Tinsukia: The killers of the MKB Tea Estate owner Mridul Bhattacharyya and his wife Rita resorted to cannibalism after they burnt the couple and their bungalow in upper Assam's Tinsukia district, police sources said on Tuesday.
According to the confessional statements of the accused before the police, the culprits partook the flesh of the tea garden owner after they burnt the couple on December 27 in his estate at Kunapathar under Bordumsa Police Station.
The eight accused - Maneswara Mura, Jiten Mura, Anem Mura, Samra Mura, Boga Bhumij, Abhiram Mura, Santosh Mura and Tatus Topno ate the flesh of the owner as per their confessional statements, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) A Basumatary told PTI today.
"In a pre-planned manner the eight accused along with a mob of disgruntled labourers rampaged through the bungalow of the owner and then cut him up into several pieces before setting the house on fire with the wife inside it," the confessional statements claimed.
The accused then consumed Bhattacharya's burnt flesh after the crime and also burned his two cars parked inside the compound, they added.
The accused also videographed them torching the bungalow and the footage was aired in the local news television channels in the state.
The prime accused along with the majority of the mob belonged to other tea gardens and not of Mridul Bhattacharyya's, official sources said.
One of the main culprits Maneswar's service was terminated in 2009 by the MKB tea garden management.
The mob set the house on fire to protest the arrest of two employees and non-payment of salaries, police said.
Meanwhile, the state government has ordered an inquiry into the incident, while DGP Jayanta Narayan Choudhury visited the area.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 01, 2013, 19:57