West Bengal man held for Attappady killings of woman, child

Police on Tuesday arrested Provath Das, a native of West Bengal, in connection with the brutal murder of a woman and her four-year-old child in Attappady. The accused reportedly confessed to the killings during interrogation.

The decapitated bodies of the victims were discovered on Sunday in sacks floating in the Bhavani river at Cheerakkadavu. Local residents who had gone to graze cattle spotted the sacks and alerted authorities.

The deceased have been identified as Pranitha, 25, and Johitha, 4, both from West Bengal. The identification was made based on the statement given by the accused.

Das reportedly told investigators that the woman and child were not his wife and daughter, claiming he had known them for only two months. A preliminary post-mortem report revealed that the woman was hacked on the head while the child was strangled. Their bodies were subsequently cut and packed into three sacks.

Investigators traced the accused through one of the sacks, which was found to have been used for delivering goods from Coimbatore to a shop at Kottathara in Attappady. Further probe revealed that Das had arrived in Attappady for plantation work less than a month ago and had been living with the woman. After committing the crime, he fled to West Bengal.

A three-member police team, led by Sub-Inspector H. Harshad, travelled to West Bengal and took Das into custody. Officials stated that he is being questioned to ascertain the motive behind the killings and to determine whether any other individuals were involved in the crime.