Missing girl's body found in Rohtak, boyfriend held

NEW DELHI: A 20-year-old man from west Delhi's Nangloi allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend, took her to Haryana and strangled her. With the help of two accomplices, he then buried her body in a pit, four feet deep, in Madina village in Rohtak , Haryana, and returned to Delhi to resume his normal life.

Probing the disappearance of the girl following a complaint by her family on Oct 23, cops have apprehended the prime suspect, Saleem , who masqueraded as Sanju. The body was exhumed from the fields in the village on Wednesday. The victim, Sonia, was pregnant, her family has claimed.

During interrogation, Saleem is claimed to have said that Sonia had recently started talking to another boy. He is also said to have told the cops that Sonia wanted to keep the child and get married, but he was unwilling. That seems to have become the prime motive behind the killing.

Acting on the details given by Saleem about the place where the body had been buried, Nangloi police have recovered it. There are numerous injury marks on the body, including some on the face, apparently made by sharp weapons, suggesting that she was subjected to physical violence before being killed.

Sonia's brother had filed a complaint at Nangloi police station about his sister having been kidnapped. He had stated that Sonia had been in a relationship with Saleem for about a year. A day after Karva Chauth (Oct 21), Saleem allegedly took Sonia along with him in a car.

"Saleem roped in two of his friends, Pankaj and Sohit, in the plan. They hired a car, picked her up from her house early on Monday morning and drove to Rohtak. There, they consumed liquor before strangling Sonia with their hands," said a cop.

Not leaving anything to chance, they strangled her lifeless body again using a mobile charger wire and then buried her body in the fields of Madina village. The spot was a kilometre away from the main road.

Meanwhile, Sonia's family had tried to contact her but her phone was switched off. The family then called up Saleem. He refused to give her the phone, saying she didn't wish to speak to them.

However, during the call, Sonia's brother-in-law, Manish, heard a voice in the background saying, "Dig the pit deeper."

Frightened by this, the family approached police. They were told that the two were adults and if they wished to be with each other, the parents shouldn't interfere, the family claimed. When the family told them about overhearing a conversation about a pit being dug, the cops started an investigation, said the family. Using surveillance and a tip-off, the cops located Saleem at Paschim Vihar.

They then apprehended Saleem and another man and recovered several documents belonging to Sonia. When questioned, Saleem confessed that they belonged to his girlfriend. One of the papers had Sonia's brother's phone number written on it. They were both arrested.