Headless torso, buried head: Jharkhand cops crack murder; wife, boyfriend held

Ranchi,UPDATED: Jul 7, 2026 11:36 IST

A 29-year-old man was murdered and beheaded by his wife and her boyfriend in Jharkhand's Ranchi, with investigators recovering his severed head 17 days after his partially burnt torso was found in a forest.

Sanjay Lohra's remains were recovered on June 19, but the case remained a mystery until police recovered his severed head from a nearby forest 17 days later.

On Monday, the victim's wife, Subodhini Devi, and her boyfriend, Raman Seth, were detained.

During interrogation, Subodhini said she wanted to marry Seth and the two conspired to kill Lohra.

After the murder, Seth, along with two associates, decapitated and buried the head in a forest in an attempt to conceal his identity.

Raids are underway to trace and arrest the two other accused.

A senior officer said the absence of the victim's head initially made the investigation extremely challenging.

"It had become a blind murder case. Establishing the victim's identity without the head was difficult. However, technical inputs and forensic evidence ultimately helped us identify the deceased as Sanjay Lohra," the officer said.

Officers have also seized a car believed to have been used to transport and dispose of the body.

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