The Gautam Budh Nagar police have arrested a couple in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old pregnant woman, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase on NH-24 in Ghaziabad around five months ago, on Monday.
According to police, Mala had married Shivam against their parents' wish. She went missing from home on April 7 and three days later, her body was found stuffed in a suitcase on April 10.
Mala's parents lodged a complaint against her husband Shivam and accused him of killing her for not bringing enough dowry. The police then detained Shivam and registered a case of dowry death against him but failed to gather enough evidence against him and therefore he was let out on a bail.
However, the local police did not make any headway in the case even after five months. Thereafter, a special team was formed it zeroed in on a couple — Saurabh Divakar and his wife Ritu — who lived in the same building as Mala's rented accommodation in the Haibatpur village of Greater Noida.
After a detailed investigation, the police found that accused Ritu got tempted after Mala showed her the jewellery and expensive clothes which she got in her marriage.
"Mala and Ritu lived on different floors. On April 6, Mala's cousin Mohit visited her house along with his wife to meet her. She showed them the ornaments and dresses which she got in her marriage. Somehow, Ritu also saw them and got tempted," said Ajay Pal Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar.
The officer said that Ritu then told her husband about the jewellery. The couple then hatched a plot to murder Mala and steal her jewellery.
"On April 7, the accused couple called Mala to her rented house, when she was alone at home, and strangled her to death with a towel. They then reached her house, stole the jewellery, mobile phones and dresses and stuffed her body into the suitcase which was gifted by her parents at the time of marriage.
The accused then loaded both the bags, containing the body and jewellery, in an auto, While Ritu went to her parent's home in the Vijay Nagar area of Ghaziabad with the bag of jewellery, Saurabh moved ahead in the autorickshaw and dumped the suitcase containing the body in the Kanawani area of Indirapuram near NH-24," added Sharma.
The police said that they got the breakthrough after tracing the location of the mobile phones which belonged to the deceased and matching all the possible clues. Both the accused were produced in court on Monday and were sent to jail, the officer added.
ABOUT THE INCIDENT
- On April 7, the accused couple called Mala (victim) to her rented house, when she was alone at home, and strangled her to death with a towel. They then reached her house, stole the jewellery, mobile phones and dresses and stuffed her body into the suitcase.
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