A long-running family dispute over money, property and an interfaith marriage ended in a brutal murder in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district. What began as a search for a missing elderly couple turned into a horrifying murder case when police discovered that the couple had been killed by their own son.

The victims, Shyam Bahadur (65) and his wife Babita (63), had been missing for five days. Their son, Ambesh, was later arrested after police found evidence linking him to their deaths. According to the police, Ambesh murdered his parents, cut their bodies into pieces using a saw, packed the remains in cement bags, and threw them into nearby rivers.

Police said Ambesh had married a Muslim woman in Kolkata during the Covid-19 pandemic. The couple has two children. However, his family, which lives in Ahmedpur village in Jaunpur, strongly opposed the interfaith marriage and pressured him to separate from his wife. Over time, this led to growing tension within the family.

The situation worsened when Ambesh’s wife demanded maintenance, forcing him to ask his parents for financial help. This reportedly led to frequent arguments at home. About three months ago, Ambesh returned from Kolkata and began living alone with his parents. Despite this, the disputes did not stop, and anger continued to build.

On December 8, after a heated argument, Ambesh allegedly attacked his mother by hitting her on the head with an iron rod. When his father tried to intervene and raise an alarm, Ambesh reportedly beat him and strangled him with a rope, killing him as well.

After the murders, Ambesh used a saw kept in the basement, where construction work was underway, to cut both bodies into three parts each. He placed the remains into six cement bags and cleaned the bloodstains using his parents’ clothes. He then loaded the bags into his car and dumped most of them into the Gomti River. One severed body part of his mother, which did not fit into the bags, was thrown into the Sai River while he was driving towards Varanasi.

The case came to light when the couple’s daughter, Vandana, was unable to contact her parents or her brother. She filed a missing persons complaint on December 13. Police traced Ambesh on December 15. During questioning, he gave inconsistent statements but eventually confessed to the crime.

Police later took him to the house to recreate the crime scene. Divers have recovered one body part so far, and search operations are ongoing to find the remaining remains. A murder case has been registered, and the investigation is continuing.