Three people, including a woman, were arrested on Monday in connection with the gruesome incident of a 55-year-old woman in Tripura's West Tripura district being tied to a tree and being burnt alive, police said.

A police official said that the woman's sons Ranabir Debnath and Biplab Debnath and the former’s wife were arrested and would be produced before a local court to seek their police custody for interrogation.

The official, quoting the local people, said that the victim, identified as Minati Debnath, was tied to a tree and allegedly burnt alive by her sons and a daughter-in-law at Champaknagar in West Tripura district late on Saturday night.

After getting the information about the incident, a police team led by Sub-Divisional Police Officer Kamal Krishna Koloi rushed to the area and found the burnt body tied to a tree behind their homes. Police recovered the burnt body and a post-mortem examination was conducted at a local government hospital.

After a thorough investigation, police arrested her sons and daughter-in-law

Citing statements from the local people, the police official said there were some family-related disputes behind the incident and the two brothers and the wife of one of the brothers suspected the victim was involved in some illicit activities.

Minati Debnath had three sons and lived with two of them at their homes at Champaknagar after she lost her husband in 2022. Her eldest son lived in Agartala.

Her brother lodged a complaint with the police and suspected that the two sons and the daughter-in-law were involved in the horrifying crime, which created a shockwave in the entire state. Further investigations are on, police said.