Kanpur murder: Accused dug up 10-ft-deep & 5-ft-long hole, buried body in just 35 mins?

This sequence of events prepared by police does not give details of his second visit to the Club at 2 pm, of which footage is available with police.

On June 24, the day when Ekta Gupta was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, gym trainer Vishal Soni, the accused, put in a ‘superhuman’ effort to dig a hole that was 10 feet deep, five-and-half feet long and three feet wide, and bury her body in it in just 35 minutes, according to the sequence of events prepared by police.

Police personnel and others retrieve mortal remains of a woman, who went missing after she was allegedly murdered, from a club located near the official residence of the District Magistrate, in Kanpur, early Sunday. (PTI)

Soni was hiding Ekta’s body in his car, which he drove to Officers’ Club near the district magistrate’s residence here where he had dug up the hole.

The police, however, are tightlipped about Soni’s second visit to the Club hours later around 2 pm.

According to this sequence, Ekta entered the Green Park stadium through gate number 2 at 5:53 am. She was seen exiting a gym on the premises at 7:02 am, but did not leave Green Park. Vimal Soni was seen following her at 7:03 am. At 7:28, Soni’s car left through gate number 2. His car caught the attention of a CCTV camera at the DAV tri-section heading as it headed towards Baba Ghat at 7:30 am; two minutes later, the car was spotted at the Green Park crossing. A camera showed Soni in the driver’s seat.

The police stated that Ekta’s body lay on the adjacent passenger seat, which had been completely pushed back to hide her body.

Then, Soni drove through TAFCO and Rave 3 crossings, and reached Ganga Barrage at 7:41 am. At 7:46, he returned to Company Bagh crossing and headed toward Rawatpur but quickly turned towards VIP Road. He turned onto Gwaltoli Road and, via Civil Lines, reached Officers’ Club on DM Compound at 8 am, where he spent 35 minutes. At 8:36, his location was traced at Jhari Baba Parao, from where he went to Kingston Resort Road and then to Ghanta Ghar at 8:43.

Soni, then, arrived at Murray Company Bridge around 9 am and reached Jhari Baba Parao at 9:50 am. The distance between the two places is nearly a km. His location was Fazalgunj at 1:31 pm, then Bhairon Ghat at 1:52 pm. At 3:06, his car was spotted at Ganga Barrage again, and at 8 pm he was seen walking in Fazalgunj.

This sequence of events does not give details of his second visit to the Club at 2 pm, of which footage is available with police.

In the case, one of the questions before the police is: was Soni acting alone, or was he getting some help given the number of influential people he knew and trained? The police are already uncomfortable answering questions such as the place of the murder, how Soni managed to take the body inside the Club, and how he dug the hole and buried the body in it in just 35 minutes. The pattern, which officials admit shows he was looking for places to dispose of the body, suggests it is entirely possible he may have buried the body later.

However, police have failed to answer any questions and applied for his remand in court. DCP East Shravan Kumar Singh stated that the police would reconstruct the scenes of the crime, and all evidence would be examined by forensics to determine the motive and how it all happened.