An Indian man was brutally killed by four men, who tried to hide the body by pouring salt on it.

The 23-year-old man's body was dumped in an empty water tank of a building in May. The four accused covered it with 25 kg (55.116 pounds) salt, to avoid the body from smelling. It was found in Mumbai on Sunday, reported Mid-Day.

The police arrested three of the accused on Monday, after bringing them back from Bihar. The fourth person who was held, is from Karnataka.

The police said the victim, Raju Chaupal, was allegedly in a relationship with the main accused’s wife.

Unit 5 of the Mumbai Crime Branch said that Chaupal’s father who works in Oshiwara, contacted police after Chaupal, who had reached Mumbai on the midnight of May 13, did not go home. After a detailed investigation, the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested Surrender Mandal, the main accused, and Shambhu and Ramkumar Saday, who are brothers. Vijay Shirse is from Karnataka.

They worked at the construction site which is a heritage building. Mandal and the others stayed at the construction site due to restrictions in times of Covid-19. He couldn’t go home and kept hearing about his wife's affair.

“The trigger was the Panchayat calling Chaupal and warning him to stay away from her. Then the village started discussing it,” a CB officer said.

The police said that Mandal planned to murder Chaupal and called him to Mumbai. Chaupal went to the construction site around 1am, directly from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus station, Kurla. There, Mandal allegedly attacked him with an iron rod.

Chaupal was still breathing despite getting hit on the head so, the main accused tried to strangulate him while the other two accused held his hands. Then the fourth accused brought out a knife with which the main accused cut his throat. They then dumped his body in the building’s water tank. The following day, the main accused brought salt which they threw inside the tank.

“The accused were arrested from Bihar and Karnataka and charged under various sections of IPC,” said DCP Prakash Jadhav, Mumbai Crime Branch.

In a separate incident, a man in Pakistan allegedly killed his wife, chopped her body into several pieces and burned them in a tandoor, reported Times Now News. The man was reportedly unhappy after his daughter took some money from his shop without his permission. He had a fight with his wife over it and when the argument heated up, the man allegedly killed her.

police line crime scene
A representational image of a crime scene. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images