India, July 29 -- A 40-year-old pharmacist has been arrested from a north Odisha village on charges that he killed his estranged wife and mother-in-law, buried them in his backyard and planted a banana tree over the site to mask the crime, police said on Tuesday.

Madhumita Mohanty, the inspector-in-charge of Kuliana police station in Mayurbhanj district, said that the suspect, Debashis Patra of Sarapankha Nuagaon village, killed his wife, Sonali Dalai, 25, and mother-in-law, Somanti Dalai, 55, on July 15 and filed a missing persons report the following day.

He may have almost gotten away with the perfect crime, except for a wild elephant that strayed into the village on the evening of July 28, damaging property.

Mohanty said it was in ...