Kolkata/IBNS: Two women trying to dump a body in a suitcase on the ghats of Ganga in Kolkata near Kumartuli were caught red-handed after their struggle with the luggage alerted the locals who assembled for a morning yoga session.

Kumartuli is the hub of sculptors who build idols mainly for the Durga Puja.

Around 7.30 on Tuesday morning, locals saw two women get off a white and blue cab, carrying a purple trolley suitcase.

As they struggled to drag the suitcase towards the river, it evoked suspicion among the yoga enthusiasts and they walked over to the women and started questioning them.

The women refused to let anyone touch the suitcase spiking the suspicion more and the the locals then called in the neighbourhood policeman.

The suitcase was opened to the shock of everyone as inside lay the body of a woman bundled up in bloodstained clothes.

"They refused to open the case and told us that it had the body of their dog, a labrador," Raja Sau, who runs the yoga camp, told the local media.

"We could not believe it. How much can a lab weigh? 30 or 40 kilos? How could they not drag the suitcase between the two of them? And it was a trolley too".

"With everyone grilling them, one of the women said it had the body of the girl's sister-in-law who had committed suicide. But if that was the case, how could they dispose of it like that? One takes such a person to the hospital, calls in the police," he added.

Once the woman admitted to the suitcase containing a dead body, the local cop called in reinforcements.

The arrested women were identified as Falguni Ghosh and her mother Aarati Ghosh. The dead woman was Sumita Ghosh, her aunt-in-law.

Locals claimed a train ticket was found with the two women. It was initially thought that they took the train from Kazipara to Kumartuli. However, the police have recovered CCTV footage from Madhyamgram near Kolkata, which showed them carrying the suitcase in a cart to a nearby taxi stand.

They had taken a cab straight to Kumartuli, the police said.