Solving Crime: How a sticker on a blue drum helped Bengaluru railway police crack the murder of a Bihar woman

Indian Express

11-05-2025

As many as three bodies were found stuffed in blue drums at railway stations across Bengaluru between December 2022 and March 2023. While two of the murders continue to remain unsolved, in one of the cases, the railway police managed to nab the killers of one of the women with little evidence.
On December 6, 2022, a woman's body was found in a yellow sack inside a blue drum dumped with other luggage in one of the unreserved coaches of the Baiyappanahalli MEMU Special train at Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal. Another decomposing body of a woman aged around 20 was found in an abandoned blue drum at the end of platform 1 at the Yeshwanthpur Railway Station on January 4, 2023. Both victims are yet to be identified.
In the murder that took place in March 2023, the police were able to identify the victim only after the arrest of the killers.
On March 13, 2023, the Railway Police Force (RPF) discovered an abandoned blue drum at Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal in Bengaluru. In turn, RPF informed the State Railway Police, who found the body of a woman — aged around 25 to 30 years — in a plastic cover inside the drum. As the body was in a decomposed state, the police were unable to establish the victim's identity.
'This really caused jitters for us. This was the third incident in a span of four months. And in previous cases, there were no leads, and a lot of questions were raised about safety at railway stations. What the previous cases had exposed was the dysfunctional CCTV cameras,' a senior police officer said.
However, this time, the police analysed CCTV footage, but it did not yield any results.
'The police were able to get CCTV footage, but what came as crucial evidence was the address written on the plastic drum. Usually, labourers travelling from North India in trains use plastic drums to keep their luggage, and some of them write their names and addresses on them. And on this drum, Jamal's address was written, which helped us to crack the case at the earliest,' said Soumyalatha S K, Superintendent of Police (Railways).
A senior police officer said the sticker with Jamal's name had an address in the Kalasipalya area of Bengaluru. 'A team was immediately dispatched to confirm whether the person with the same name resided there. The police posed as local people and checked the address. The neighbours showed the house. However, Jamal was not at his residence, but Kamal, 21, Tanveer, 28, and Shakib, 25, were picked up for questioning,' the officer added.
According to the police, all of them were from Bihar.
As the probe began, the police identified the murdered woman as 27-year-old Tamanna, a resident of Bihar, and found that she was married to Intiqab. The police said Intiqab, who worked as an AC mechanic in Anekal, too, belonged to Bihar.
Soumyalatha, SP (Railways), said Tamanna was married to a man called Afroz, but separated later. She said Tamanna developed a relationship with Intiqab, a relative of Afroz, eloped from her place, came to Bengaluru in June 2022, and married him.
According to Soumyalatha, Intiqab's family was enraged over the damage they believed Tamanna had caused to their reputation.
On March 12, 2023, Intiqab's brother, Nawab, invited the couple to his residence in Kalasipalya to discuss the tensions that had arisen in Bihar following their marriage. When he arrived at Nawab's house, a heated argument broke out. Nawab then convinced Intiqab to leave, assuring him that he would send Tamanna back to Bihar to resolve the issue there. Placing his trust in his brother, Intiqab returned home.
However, Nawab, along with his associates, allegedly strangled Tamanna, and to dispose of the evidence, they stuffed her body into a plastic drum. They carried the body in an auto-rickshaw, kept the plastic drum near the sliding door at Sir M Visvesvaraya terminal, and left. The next day, the police found the drum.
The police later arrested Nawab, Jamal, Masar, Asab, and Sabul, and filed a chargesheet against all the arrested. The accused are out on bail, and the case is in the trial stage.