The case of the dismembered and headless body of a girl stuffed in a trunk on the Gomti Express, has now unravelled into a chilling case of hate crime, with the Government Railway Police arresting the victim’s father and two relatives for the crime.
An affair with a youth from a different religion and stubbornness to marry the man proved fatal for 16-year-old Sabba after her father Biggan Ansari, 44, beheaded her, dismembered her body into six parts before disposing it off in a tin box and a bag in a train.
After dismembering her body Biggan, an e-rickshaw driver in Khusinagar district of Uttar Pradesh carried both tin box and bag in his rickshaw from his home Sewrahi area of Khusinagar to Tamkuhi road railway station, 4-5 away.
A forensic team was still collecting samples from the house as part of the investigation, on Thursday.
CCTv footage from the station recorded the movement of the accused, which became crucial evidence in cracking the case.The S1 coach CCTV camera was found defunct, but the AC 3E M2 Several body parts
After dismembering her body with the help of his sister Noor Jahan, 55, and Mojibullah Ansari, 65, an auto driver, Biggan, an E-rickshaw driver in Khusinagar district carried both tin box and bag in his rickshaw from his house in the Sewrahi area of Khusinagar to the Tamkuhi Road railway station 800 metres away to dispose of in a moving train.
{{/usCountry}}After dismembering her body with the help of his sister Noor Jahan, 55, and Mojibullah Ansari, 65, an auto driver, Biggan, an E-rickshaw driver in Khusinagar district carried both tin box and bag in his rickshaw from his house in the Sewrahi area of Khusinagar to the Tamkuhi Road railway station 800 metres away to dispose of in a moving train.
{{/usCountry}}“GRP Lucknow team on Thursday cracked the case and arrested the trio before sending them to jail,” said SP GRP Rohit Mishra, addressing mediapersons in Lucknow on Thursday.
On May 17, a girl’s mutilated body was recovered from the S-1 sleeper coach of the Chhapra-Gomtinagar Express after railway staff found a box left unattended inside the compartment.
A case under BNS section 103 (1) (murder) and 238 (concealment of evidence) was also registered by GRP Charbagh in Lucknow.
According to the police, during interrogation, the accused admitted that he killed his daughter because he suspected her of being involved in a relationship with non-Muslim.
“Sabba was in love with a man which Biggan did not like. He had warned her multiple times, but she kept talking to him. Biggan’s two other daughters had also married of their own choice, which was the cause of his anger,” added SP railway.
Timing it right
Train number 15114 Chapra Gomti Nagar Express stops at Tamkuhi railway station in Kushinagar district for two minutes. After killing the minor on May 16, the trio spent a few hours chopping off body parts and stuffing the body. Living barely 800 metres from the station, they got the idea of dumping the box in the train.
“They arrived at the station at around 9 pm and waited for the night to wear on and for people to fall asleep. When the train arrived at the station at around 10:41 pm, the trio got inside the S1 coach and got off from M1 (next to the next coach).
“Their faces were captured on the CCTV at M1 coach after which a team of police started searching nearby localities when someone identified them leading to their detention,” said Dharamveer Singh, SHO, GRP, Charbagh police station and IO of the case.
According to the police, the accused later disposed of the head. Police also said that the murder was pre-planned as the man chose the time when his wife had gone to her in-laws house.
Head still missing; cops search Bihar, UP
While police have recovered the two murder weapons, the search is still on for the head. “The accused informed us about two places including a pond and a drain close to the UP-Bihar border. Our team searched for the head in the pond on Wednesday, but it could not be retrieved. The search in the drain in UP-Bihar border is still on,” the SP added, saying the PCR will be taken for further clues in the case while DNA test will also be carried out.
Police said Biggan Ansari changed his statements multiple times regarding the whereabouts of his daughter’s missing head. Kushinagar police, assisted by divers, searched a village pond after he claimed he had dumped the head there. Later, he allegedly told investigators that he had thrown it into the Baasi river, a tributary of the Gandak flowing near the village.