Decomposed body of schoolgirl missing for 20 days recovered; teacher arrested

Kolkata, Sep 17 (IANS) The decomposed body of a seventh standard student was recovered after she went missing for about 20 days. The incident took place at Rampurhat in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

She was a student of Shyampahari Sri Ramakrishna Shikshapeeth in Rampurhat.

The family of the deceased accused the physics teacher of that school, Manoj Kumar Pal, of kidnapping and murdering the student. Based on their complaint, the police on Wednesday morning arrested the accused teacher.

According to the complaint lodged by the family, the student had left home on August 28 to take her tuition.

The family members had filed a missing person complaint with Rampurhat police station after she did not return home. Later, the family members alleged that Manoj Kumar Pal, a physics teacher at the school where she was studying, had kidnapped her.

Late on Tuesday night, the Rampurhat police recovered her decomposed body of the student from a wetland near Kalidanga village under Rampurhat police station.

Following the recovery of the body, the missing person diary was converted into a murder case. The police said the body was cut into pieces and thrown into the water.

"We recovered the body which was cut in pieces. It started decomposing. Based on the complaint by the family of the student, the teacher has been arrested. A murder case has been registered. An investigation into the incident has started," said a senior officer of Birbhum district police.

The police are trying to find out the motive behind killing the student and whether any physical torture was inflicted on her before the murder.

However, since the body parts started decomposing, it will be difficult to establish the physical assault. The body has been sent for post-mortem and forensic experts have been called.

The arrested person is being questioned by police officers.

--IANS

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