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Police in South 24-Parganas arrested a 27-year-old man on Saturday after residents saw him walking through a village holding the severed head of a woman believed to be his sister-in-law,

authorities said.

Police in South 24-Parganas arrested a 27-year-old man on Saturday after residents saw him walking through a village holding the severed head of a woman believed to be his sister-in-law,

authorities said. Bimal Mondal was detained by officers from Basanti police station in South 24-Parganas district, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Kolkata, after frightened villagers locked

themselves indoors and called the police, a senior investigating officer said.

“The suspect was carrying a machete in one hand and the victim’s head in the other,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the case

publicly. “He offered no resistance when we arrived.” Early inquiries suggest the killing may have been triggered by a domestic dispute, but detectives are examining other possible motives

and plan to seek a psychiatric evaluation of the suspect, police said. The victim, identified by neighbours only as Mondal’s 35-year-old sister-in-law, lived in the same household. Forensic

specialists have sealed off the family’s home while they search for the rest of the body and gather evidence. Footage filmed by onlookers and shared locally shows terrified residents

slamming doors and windows as the blood-stained man walks along an unpaved lane.