Bhopal killer derived ideas of crime from TV show

The murder came to light when West Bengal came to Bhopal looking for Akansha after her father had lodged a complaint in December. Photo: ABP News

KOLKATA: Arrested Bhopal resident Udayan Das, who allegedly killed his live-in partner and entombed her body inside a concrete slab, has revealed during interrogation that he got the idea of wrapping up the dead body in plastic from famous American television series 'The X-Files', police claimed on Saturday. Das, who is also accused of killing both his parents, confessed murdering his live-in partner Akansha Sharma on July 15, 2016. "Das admitted that he murdered the girl and then wrapped up the body in plastic, the way he saw in 'X-Files' television series. He did so to stop the body from decomposing," Bankura Police Superintendent Sukhendu Hira told over phone. 'The X-Files' is an American science fiction drama television series that revolves around two FBI special agents resolving marginalised, unsolved cases with paranormal phenomena. Das earlier admitted that he committed the murder and entombed Sharma's body after drawing inspiration from an American crime film 'Devil's Knot'. The officer also said Sharma's post-mortem report, that arrived from Bhopal on Saturday, clearly indicates she was killed by strangulation. "We have received the post-mortem report from Bhopal that shows the girl was killed by strangulation. We will send the report to Forensic Science Laboratory on Sunday," he said. Police said they have discovered morphed pictures of multiple women from Das' laptop and also have leads to believe that he was involved in multiple relationships. "We recovered several morphed pictures of women and traced multiple fake social media accounts from his laptop. There is a chance that he had other relationships but that is not verified yet," the officer added. Das was brought to the state from Bhopal on transit remand by the Bankura police and was remanded in police custody for eight days by the Bankura district court on February 7. He was arrested on February 2 by the West Bengal Police on charges of murdering his live-in partner who hails from the district and entombing her body in a concrete block inside his house in Saketnagar in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Later, he also confessed to his parents' murder.