UP BTech grad chops parents into 10 pieces over opposition to his interfaith marriage

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A 30-year-old professional engineer in Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh has been arrested for the alleged premeditated murder and brutal dismemberment of his retired parents, in a case that has sent shockwaves through the local community.

The accused, Ambesh Kumar, stands accused of killing his father and mother, dismembering their bodies with a saw and disposing of the remains in the Gomti River.

The accused worked as a quality engineer for a Kolkata-based firm. According to reports, a deep-seated conflict had festered within the family for six years, since Ambesh married a Muslim woman in Kolkata against his parents' wishes. The union, a love marriage, was a source of sustained tension, with his parents persistently urging him to divorce his wife.

According to reports, the grim sequence began on the evening of December 8 in the Jafarabad area. Ambesh Kumar, a BTech graduate working as a quality engineer, is alleged to have bludgeoned his parents — retired loco pilot Shyam Bahadur and his wife Babita Devi — to death using a silbatta, or grinding stone, following a dispute over money. The couple were killed instantly at their home.

The investigation, led by Jaunpur police, reportedly took a macabre turn as details emerged. During interrogation, Ambesh Kumar allegedly confessed to using a saw to chop the victims’ bodies into approximately 10 pieces after the murders. He then packed the dismembered remains into cement bags and, in a calculated move, transported them to Belawa bridge to dump the bags into the Gomti River.

In what police describe as a deliberate cover-up, Kumar returned home and persuaded his sister, Vandana Devi, to file a missing persons report for their parents at the Jafarabad police station. Days later, he himself left the family home under the pretence of joining the search, only to vanish. This prompted his sister to file a second missing report, this time for her brother.

Suspicion, however, had begun to solidify around Kumar during the initial investigation. He was subsequently tracked down and arrested within Jaunpur city on Monday evening. On the basis of his disclosed information, police recovered the primary weapons: the silbatta and the saw believed to have been used in the crime.

Police have since recovered one body from the river, believed to be that of Shyam Bahadur. Assistant Superintendent of Police Aayush Shrivastava confirmed that a large-scale search for Babita Devi's remains is ongoing. The operation involves over 12 boats and 15 divers from the police force, covering a 15-kilometre stretch of the Gomti River near Rajepur, Belav Ghat and Kerakatpur.