A 43-year-old illegal Bangladeshi immigrant was arrested by the Noida police on Sunday in connection with the murder of a 36-year-old woman in Sarfabad village last month.
The suspect was identified as Babul Mia, a daily wage earner who had allegedly crossed over into India nearly 15 years ago, said police.
Police on August 6 had recovered the decomposed body of the woman, Fatima, from her rented accommodation in Sarfabad. The victim, a native of West Bengal, had moved from Sorkha to Sarfabad recently, police said, adding that the autopsy of the body had confirmed strangulation.
Based on a complaint of the landlord, a case of murder was registered at Sector 49 police station. The victim’s eldest son, who lives in Gurugram, had claimed the body while her two other children live with her ex-husband, police said.
According to police officials, Babul had helped the woman get the accommodation in Sarfabad and had been absconding since her death.
“The suspect was nabbed from near Sector 52. Following the murder, he first fled to West Bengal and later to Rajasthan before coming back here. It seems that he and the woman were in a relationship, but she was trying to end things,” said Vinod Kumar Singh, station house officer, Sector 49 police station.
According to police, the two had an argument on August 5 following which Babul, in a fit of rage, strangled the woman with her dupatta before fleeing the spot.
The officials said that Babul is an undocumented Bangladeshi national who has been in the country for over 15 years. He was living in Noida’s Barola, Gejha, and Sarfabad for the past several years, they said.
Police recovered an Indian passport, two Aadhaar cards with the same number and one debit card from the suspect. Babul has a family in Bangladesh, another in West Bengal, police said, adding that he tried to escape to Bangladesh after the murder but could not due to Covid-19 regulations.
According to police, the suspect, who was working at a site in Noida’s Sector 137, had met Fatima in a train journey from West Bengal almost five years ago.