Raipur: Claiming to be haunted by his "spirit", a man walked into a police station in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district and confessed to killing his friend a week ago and burying his body under his house.
The police quoted him as saying that he was repeatedly disturbed by an apparition of the victim, Brijlal, asking for his last rites.
In his confessional statement, the man said he murdered his friend after a fight. He then buried him in a pit, which had already been dug inside his house, with the help of his wife.
The pit was then filled up with soil and closed with a wooden floor panel to conceal the crime and avoid suspicion, the man confessed.
However, then came the twist in the tale as the man said his life turned into a living hell since then.
Nearly a week after the crime, the accused, Mithlesh, reached Gandhinagar police station on Wednesday night and confessed to murdering his friend.
He told police that he was frequently visited by the man's ‘spirit', telling him, "You killed me. Now perform my last rites so that my soul can rest in peace."
Acting on his confessional statement, a police team led by senior officers, along with a magistrate and forensic experts, reached his house in Ambikapur town and excavated the site where the accused said he had buried the friend he murdered.
The body was exhumed in a decomposed state and sent for post-mortem.
Mithilesh and his wife Rajkumari were arrested for the murder and concealment of the body.
According to investigators, the incident took place on the intervening night of March 24 and 25 when Brijlal visited his friend's house in a drunken state. The friend allegedly wanted to consume more liquor with Mithilesh and an argument ensued after the latter refused to drink citing a religious observance. The argument soon devolved into a physical altercation during which Mithilesh's mobile phone fell out and broke.
Enraged, Mithilesh struck his friend on the head with a wooden stick, killing him, the police said.
After laying the body in the pit, the couple left their house and stayed with relatives for a few days, the sleuths revealed.
The investigators said they were trying to establish the sequence of events leading up to the crime and the individual roles of the accused couple.
Rashmi is a Special Correspondent with The Times of India in Chha...
Read MoreRashmi is a Special Correspondent with The Times of India in Chhattisgarh. She covers Politics, Left Wing Extremism, Crime and Human Rights among other areas of news value.
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