Police on Sunday arrested a BSF constable for allegedly killing his wife over conjugal differences in the Ghojadanga-Uttarpara area of Basirhat.Rupam Sarkar, 39, attached to 118 Battalion of the BSF and posted at Samsher Nagar (BOP-4) in South 24-Parganas, was arrested from home based on a complaint lodged by his in-laws at Basirhat police station.

The in-laws alleged that on Thursday night, Rupam, with the support of his family members had beaten his wife Ankita, 32, to death and later hanged her to make it look like suicide.Police and local sources said that in the early hours of Friday, Ankita was taken to Basirhat subdivisional hospital and declared brought dead.

Ankita’s family refused to accept the death as suicide.On Saturday, Ankita’s father, Amal Tarafdar, lodged a complaint with Basirhat police against Rupam, who was eventually arrested early on Sunday morning.Family sources said that Rupam got married to Ankita, a resident of Laxmipur village of Baduria in North 24-Parganas, five years ago.

“But trouble began within a year as Rupam often started to physically torture her even over trivial differences. On a number of occasions, the families tried to find out an amicable solution for the conjugal interest of the couple, but there was little respite for Ankita,” said a relative of the victim.

“My son-in-law used to assault my daughter. A few months ago, the torture on her increased. My daughter returned to me. But, a few days ago, we made her agree to return and Rupam also requested her to come back. But I could never imagine that she would be killed,” said Amal Tarafdar.

“On Friday morning, Rupam called us to say that my daughter had committed suicide. We rushed to the hospital, but it appeared that she was strangulated and beaten to death,” he said, referring to “a number of suspected injury marks on her body”. On Sunday, police produced Rupam at the ACJM court in Basirhat, which ordered him three days in police custody.