Two held for Kanpur woman's murder; boyfriend clicked selfie with body before dumping it in Yamuna

Kanpur: Kanpur Police on Monday said they have solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a 20-year-old woman here, with her now-arrested boyfriend and his associate revealing that they stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it in Yamuna river.

Police said Suraj Kumar Uttam (20) from Fatehpur strangled his girlfriend Akanksha alias Mahi during a heated argument on July 21 after she confronted him over his relationship with another woman.

The second girlfriend had allegedly pressured Suraj to end his first relationship, leading to the murder, they said.

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Yogesh Kumar, Akanksha, a resident of Sujnipur in Kanpur Dehat district, worked in an eatery on Hamirpur Road. She lived in a rented room in Hanumant Vihar, where the accused frequently visited.

After killing her, Suraj allegedly clicked a selfie with the body before calling his friend Ashish Kumar (21) of Jafrabad for help. The two stuffed the body in a suitcase and threw it in Yamuna river from Chilla bridge, the Additional DCP said.

Suraj then left Akanksha's mobile phone on a train at Kanpur Central station to create false location trails and mislead investigators.

He cleared her belongings from her room, claiming that she has asked him to collect them.

On July 22, the victim's mother Vijayshri lodged a complaint after she received suspicious replies from her daughter's number.

Police initially registered a kidnapping case, but the investigation gained pace after an analysis of the call detail records pointed towards Suraj, Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Deependra Nath Chaudhary said.

"Through analysis of call records, we successfully solved the murder mystery of Akanksha alias Mahi," he said, adding that the accused has confessed to the crime.

Police teams have been deployed in Kaushambi, Prayagraj and Banda to trace and recover the body, he added.