Kolkata: The Anandapur police station made another major breakthrough on Thursday night in the murder of Ultadanga housewife Archana Palongdar, whose body was recovered from a canal at Anandapur in August last year.
The sleuths have arrested one Harihar Mahato from Dhanwar in Jharkhand. Mahato is the manager of the hotel in New Market, where the housewife had put up along with her lover Balaram Keshri. His arrest is the fourth in this connection. In December last year, the police had arrested Joydev Mahato from Giridih in Jharkhand.
Sleuths informed that the vehicle in which the bodies of Archana and Balaram were shifted from the hotel and dumped in the canal, belonged to Mahato's brother who used the car for an app-cab service. The vehicle has already been recovered by the police.
It may be mentioned that Archana had gone missing from her residence in Ultadanga on August 17 and her body was recovered from the canal a few days later. During the course of investigation, police came to know about her affair with Balaram.
The arrested persons had claimed that they had recovered the bodies of Archana and Balaram from the hotel room and moved them to Anandapur in fear of facing police probe. They had told the police that the two had some problems over their relationship, following which Balaram had killed Archana and then committed suicide.
"There are still some missing links left in the case to ascertain the motive behind the crime and whether it was Balaram who killed Archana. The roles of the arrested persons are being examined," an investigating officer said.