Man, 22, held for murder of former partner in Faridabad

Victim went missing on April 15; body found April 17 in drain. Police say accused strangled her after argument and tried to destroy evidence.

A 22-year-old man was arrested from Palwal on Tuesday for allegedly murdering a 45-year-old woman in Faridabad after she pressured him to rekindle their relationship, police said on Wednesday.

Father arrested earlier for helping son flee on motorcycle; arrest made after he revealed hiding location during interrogation, police said. (File photo)

Police said the suspect’s 49-year-old father had earlier been arrested on April 18 for helping him escape to Palwal on a motorcycle after the crime, which was committed on April 15. The woman had gone missing on the morning of April 15 after leaving her home in Kabulpur, Sector-58. Her body was recovered by family members on April 17 from a drain filled with water hyacinth on the outskirts of Kabulpur. Her clothes and mangalsutra were found at a distance from the spot.

ACP (crime) Varun Kumar Dahiya said the woman’s husband and son workedin Chennai. “She had befriended the suspect three years back and had an illicit relationship with him. However, he severed all connections with her after getting married in January 2025,” he said.

He added that the woman had recently begun threatening to disclose the relationship to the suspect’s wife and family. “After repeated threats, he planned the murder,” Dahiya said.

According to police, the suspect picked up the woman near her residence on April 15 when she was on way to deposit an electricity bill. After she made the payment, he took her to a secluded area on the outskirts of Kabulpur.

Investigators said the suspect confessed that the two had a heated argument, after which he slammed her to the ground and compressed her neck with his legs, causing her death. He then dumped the body in the drain.“He feared identification, so he pulled out the body, removed her clothes and mangalsutra, threw them several metres away, and dumped the body again before fleeing,” Dahiya said.

Police said that during the interrogation of the father, he told police about the spot where the suspect was hiding, leading to his arrest.

An FIR was registered at the Sector 58 police station on April 17 under sections 103(1) (murder) and 238(a) (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on a complaint by the woman’s brother-in-law.