Police today exhumed the remains of a girl who had been murdered and buried around three months ago at Matigara in Siliguri. Police sources said that they stumbled upon this fresh case as they investigated another murder case.

Police had arrested a local resident of Matigara, Md Akhtar Hussain, while investigating the murder of Anita Mahali, a resident of Chandmani, on 11 September. The body of the 19-year-old was found on 1 September. An alleged drug addict, Hussain, is the prime accused in both the murders.

Police had filed a murder case and had earlier arrested the woman’s husband, Suman Kharia, based on a complaint filed by her mother. But during further investigations, police came to know of the involvement of Md Akhtar Hussain. Police said he had admitted that he sexually assaulted her and killed her.

“He further admitted that he had killed another woman, Suchona Mondal, in a similar manner three months ago. He identified the place where he had buried her and the body has been exhumed today. Further investigations are underway,” said the deputy commissioner of the Siliguri Metropolitan Police, East, Zone1, Joy Tudu.

The girl’s mother, Ujjwala Mondal, had earlier filed a missing diary with the police, while she identified the body today on the basis of her daughter’s clothes. She was buried near the railway tracks at Matigara near the home of the accused.

The remains have been sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a man killed his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and seriously injured his wife in his in-laws’ house at Naxalbari near Siliguri in the wee hours today. Prasun Praja, then hanged himself too, it is learnt.

Sources said 22-year-old Praja doubted his wife Priyanka Oraon of having an extramarital affair. There were three persons in a single room in the house at Jabra Division. Praja hacked to death his daughter and also hacked his wife in the wee hours. He also injured himself with the sharp weapon and later hanged himself,” sources said.

The woman is undergoing treatment in a serious condition at the NBMCH, it is learnt.