Suspect facing 15 years behind bars in pregnant Amsterdam student's disappearance

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded 15 years in prison against 42-year-old Manodj B. for killing Sumanta Bansi and disposing of her body. The pregnant Amsterdam student has been missing for over four years. The OM believes it has enough evidence to prove manslaughter against Manodj B., NH Nieuws report.

Manodj B.’s 65-year-old father, Dwarka B., was also a suspect in this case, but the OM could not gather enough evidence against him. The OM, therefore, asked for his acquittal.

Sumanta disappeared without a trace on 18 February 2018. She was pregnant for the second time with Manodj B.’s child. She lived with him and his family in Hoorn and had a secret relationship with him, a married man. In a previous pregnancy, the family convinced her to get an abortion. This time she was determined to keep the child. 

The evidence against Manodj B. includes tapped conversations with his brother Zou. In one, he said: “I went staring through her heart with that thing, dead, done.”

Manodj denies any involvement in Sumanta’s disappearance. 

Despite many searches in various places, the police have not yet found Sumanta’s body - much to her family’s despair. Her parents came from Suriname to attend the trial and expressed the hope of finding Sumanta’s body. “Be a man and at least tell us where to find her. We can’t even say goodbye to her,” lawyer Priya Soekhai said on behalf of her father, Marlon Bansi. 

The court will rule in two weeks.