New York (PTI): An Indian-origin woman has died while her daughter and the pilot instructor were injured in a small plane crash in the New York area when they were on a "demonstration flight", media reports said.

Roma Gupta, 63, and her daughter Reeva Gupta, 33, were on board the small plane on Sunday as its pilot reported smoke in the cockpit before crashing near Long Island homes, NBC New York TV channel reported.

Roma was killed when the four-seater single-engine Piper Cherokee plane went down in flames as it was returning to the Republic Airport on Long Island from where it had also taken off.

Her daughter Reeva and the 23-year-old pilot instructor are in hospital with severe burns, according to the report.

"The two patients critically injured, severely burned, to my knowledge they were pulled from the plane from a civilian," North Lindenhurst Fire Dept. Chief Kenny Stallone said.

Roma died in the crash. Her daughter, Reeva, is in critical condition at Stony Brook Hospital with third-degree burns. Reeva is a physician's assistant in the Mount Sinai system, whose colleagues say she has a long, painful recovery ahead.

The flight instructor operating the plane was also in critical condition Monday, according to the Danny Waizman Flight School, which owns the plane.

Oleh Dekaylo, the attorney for Danny Waizman Flight School said the pilot had all his ratings and certifications, and the plane involved in the crash had just passed two stringent inspections, the most recently last week.

"It was a demonstration flight, an introductory flight to see if people are interested" in flying lessons, Dekajlo, the lawyer for Danny Waizman Flight School, told the channel.

Suffolk County police say the pilot was on a tourist flight. The flight path shows the plane went over the South Shore beaches. Then the pilot reported smoke in the cabin, which he radioed into Republic Airport air traffic controllers, the News12 New Jersey website reported.

The attorney for the plane's owner said that the plane had gone through numerous inspections, including one just recently.

The National Transportation Safety Board will continue the investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the crash.

Federal investigators are expected to return to the crash site for a third time on Tuesday to remove the wreckage for further analysis.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe created for the Gupta family has raised more than USD 60,000.

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Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.

The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.

Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.

"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.

Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.

“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.

Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.

"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.

The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.

Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.

"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.

The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.

Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.