A man in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi district has been arrested for allegedly murdering his 22-year-old niece -- with whom he was having an extramarital affair -- as she wanted to marry with someone else.
The accused, identified as Manikant Dwivedi, disposed of the body at an under construction building and abandoned her cellphone in a bus to mislead the police.
The victim -- Mansi Pandey -- had gone to her aunt's, as in Manikant's wife's home on Monday for Rakshabandhan, NDTV reported. However, when she did not return home, her father Ramsagar Pandey filed a complaint against Manikant, accusing him of taking away Mansi.
Based on Ramsagar's complaint, the police took Manikant in custody and started questioning him.
During interrogation, Manikant told the police said that he had an affair with Mansi for two years now. "Recently, Mansi told him that she wants to marry someone else. This infuriated Manikant and he choked her to death," District Police Chief Neeraj Kumar Jadaun was quoted as saying.
Another official explained how the accused threw Mansi's phone in a moving bus to mislead police investigations. The victim's body has been recovered from the under construction building and sent for postmortem examination.
Ramsagar noted that he dropped Mansi off at Manikant's home around 3 pm on Monday and went to Lucknow. "On Wednesday, he (Manikant) called me and said Mansi is missing and her phone is switched off. He told me that Mansi had eloped, but I suspected him and filed a complaint," the victim's father added.
Ramsagar reportedly said that Mansi's wedding had been fixed for November 27, adding that Manikant did not want that to happen and had been asking her to not get married.
This case comes in the backdrop of pouring outrage over crimes against women across the country, in view of the rape and murder of trainee doctor at Kolkata' RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the sexual assault of two kindergarten students in Maharashtra's Badlapur.
Protests have been raging on in the nation, demanding justice for the victims and better safety measures for women.
