Goutam Guchhait, a 40-year-old man from West Bengal, was arrested on Wednesday after he beheaded his wife and walked around in public with her severed head. The horrific scene in Purba Medinipur district was filmed by locals.
His family had in 2021 claimed he was mentally unstable after he jumped into a lion's enclosure at the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata.
That morning he had declared he would meet a lion, according to his parents. Hours later, he climbed a 14-foot boundary wall and crossed two net fencings to get inside the lion enclosure in Alipore. He then crawled on the ground to reach the lion that had come out of its den. Within minutes, an injured Goutam was pulled away to safety by alert zoo guards.
The mental health angle is yet to be confirmed by the cops in Wednesday's beheading.
The police arrived over an hour later and found the body of the wife, Fulrani Guchhait. They said Goutam beheaded her due to family-related problems and went to the nearby bus stop with the severed head.
Goutam was taken into custody and the body was sent for post-mortem. His parents were also taken to the police station, witnesses said.