Illegal house of murder accused demolished in Uttarakhand's Sitarganj

Rudrapur: The house of a murder accused, arrested for allegedly beheading his live-in partner, has been demolished in Uttarakhand's Sitarganj as it was allegedly constructed on an illegally occupied plot, officials said here on Tuesday.

The house of the accused named Mushtaq stood on a plot in Sitarganj's Gauri Kheda and it was registered in the name of Mathura Prasad, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste, they said.

"As the house stood on illegally grabbed land which belonged to a man from the Scheduled Caste, it was demolished with the support of the district administration in heavy police presence," Udham Singh Nagar District Magistrate Nitin Bhadauria said.

Mushtaq's father Ali Ahmed had illegally occupied the land and built a house there, as per police officials.

A legal notice had also been issued to the occupants of the house earlier, they said.

The headless body of a woman named Pooja Mandal, who had been missing for about five months, was recovered from the Nadanna canal in Khatima on Wednesday last week.

Mushtaq, a taxi driver by profession, had been in a live-in relationship with Pooja for several years. He was arrested in connection with the murder after an investigation was launched on the basis of a complaint lodged by Pooja's sister, officials said.

Mushtaq allegedly beheaded her and threw her body into the canal on November 16 last year, they said.