A 47-year-old homemaker was found dead, her throat slit and body wrapped in a bed sheet, on the road in front of her house in Behala around 6am on Sunday.

Riya — the 20-year-old daughter of the victim, Shampa Chakraborty — and her husband Raju Samui, also known as Joy, have been arrested on charges of murder.

“The couple have confessed to the crime,” said joint commissioner (crime) Murlidhar Sharma, who visited the murder spot.

“We suspect the woman was killed with a kitchen knife. The suspected murder weapon was found in the victim’s home,” an investigating officer said.

The victim and her husband, Bhupal, who works as a guard, were unhappy with their daughter’s marriage and would frequently be involved in altercations with the 20-year-old and her husband, the police said.

The Chakraborty family has a flat on the terrace of the three-storey building — Nandita Apartment — on Basudebpur Road, off Behala Chowrasta.

“Shampa’s husband, who works as a guard at an Alipore housing complex, had left for work at 8am on Saturday and was expected back home after 8am on Sunday,” a police officer said.

Riya and Joy, who neighbours said was a resident of the area and worked as a guard, were allegedly spotted by a woman of a nearby building trying to place a heavy object on a bicycle around 3am on Sunday.

Sunipa Mukherjee, a schoolteacher, recorded the activity on her mobile phone.

A still from the video footage that schoolteacher Sunipa Mukherjee shared with Metro. The woman in the still, according to Mukherjee, is Riya.

“My husband and I heard the sound of some heavy object falling on the ground. We saw Riya and Joy trying to put an object resembling a suitcase on the bicycle used by Joy. But the object was falling off the cycle. As I grew suspicious, I recorded the activity on my mobile phone,” said Mukherjee.

Sunipa’s husband called up a resident of Nandita Apartment and the two stepped out to check what was going on. They apparently found something wrapped in a piece of cloth lying on the metalled road. “Riya and her husband had by then left the spot,” said the teacher’s husband.

“Later in the morning, we found a body wrapped in a bed sheet, with a leg sticking out, barely four yards from the building (Nandita Apartment). A suitcase covered by a piece of cloth was found beside the body. The victim was later identified as Shampa Chakraborty,” said Debasish Biswas, who lives on the ground floor of Nandita Apartment.

The police said Suranjan Kar, 84, was the first to spot the body. His house is close to the spot where the body was dumped.

Kar alerted neighbours. Abhishek Guha, a neighbour, dialled 100 to alert the police.

Cops from Parnasree police station soon reached the spot and removed the body.

“A woman’s body was found wrapped in a bed sheet and tied with a nylon rope. A preliminary examination revealed that a sharp weapon was used to slit her throat. When we reached the spot, the flat was locked from outside,” said joint commissioner (crime) Sharma.

An officer of the homicide department said Shampa and Bhupal were trying to force Riya to divorce Joy. “This could have angered the daughter and her husband, prompting them to murder Shampa,” the officer said.

“Riya and Joy were arrested while trying to board an autorickshaw near Joy’s home in Parnasree,” the officer said.

An investigating officer said Riya had taken her mother’s body out of the suitcase and left it in the open after failing to tie the suitcase to the carrier of Joy’s cycle.

The chairperson of West Bengal Women’s Commission, Leena Gangopadhyay, visited the spot after a resident shared the video footage with her.