HOSHIARPUR — Mukerian police arrested a migrant worker for allegedly strangling his wife to death and stripping her body inside a sugarcane field in an attempt to disguise the homicide as a sexual assault.
The suspect, identified as Jahadur Islam, hailed from West Bengal’s Malda district and lived with his wife, Rubina Khatun, in Madinpur village near Mukerian. Both worked locally as municipal sanitation laborers cleaning sewers and roadside drains. Domestic strife had plagued the household for months. Islam routinely confronted Khatun over suspicions regarding her fidelity, triggering recurrent, bitter disputes that culminated in the fatal assault.
He offered no resistance during his arrest.
Trouble peaked days ago when Islam lured Khatun toward an isolated pond near the village periphery after concluding their work shift. He led her deeper into an adjoining sugarcane thicket. There, investigators stated, Islam wrapped a gamchha around her neck and choked her until she collapsed lifeless on the soil.
He stripped her clothes immediately after the killing. Police confirmed the staging was a calculated maneuver to mislead investigators into treating the death as an opportunistic sexual assault by unidentified assailants. Islam then abandoned the remains concealed within the dense crop.
Then came the cover-up.
Islam placed a phone call to his brother-in-law, Sohel Ali, based in Bihar’s Katihar district, claiming that Khatun had vanished without a trace. Alarmed by the call, Khatun’s brothers boarded a train to Punjab to mount an immediate search. But Islam’s narrative fractured under scrutiny. When family members detected glaring contradictions in his timeline, they pressed him directly, prompting Islam to break down and admit to the killing.
The accused staged the crime scene to divert suspicion and manufacture an impression of sexual assault, but his contradictory claims unraveled during initial questioning.
Investigating Officer, Mukerian Police Station
Alerted by the victim's family, a team from the Mukerian police station cordoned off the area and retrieved Khatun’s remains from the sugarcane field. The body was dispatched to the local civil hospital for clinical post-mortem examination and forensic analysis to determine the precise medical cause of death.
| Case Parameter | Official Status |
|---|---|
| Accused | Jahadur Islam (Native of Malda, West Bengal) |
| Victim | Rubina Khatun |
| Location of Incident | Madinpur Village, Mukerian, Hoshiarpur, Punjab |
| Primary Weapon | Gamchha (Cloth Towel) |
| Statutory Booking | Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) |
| Current Legal Status | Arrested; Under Police Custodial Investigation |
Police officials confirmed that formal charges stand registered against Islam under corresponding provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Forensic experts continue to process physical evidence gathered from the sugarcane field, while Mukerian police prepare to present Islam before a local magistrate to secure custodial remand.