2 arrested for killing sister in hate crime, dumping body in Ghaziabad canal

The police said that they decided to file a suo motu FIR to build a strong case against the suspects

An Uttarakhand woman was killed by two of her relatives and her body was dumped in a canal in Ghaziabad — a hate crime because of her relationship with a man from a different community, police officers familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The scene of crime near Upper Ganga Canal in Muradnagar on Monday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The deceased woman was identified as Sheeba, 18, who goes by a single name, a resident of Roorkee, while the suspects were identified as her brother Sufiyan Nawab, 21, and her cousin Mehtab Akhtar, 24, a resident of Shahdara in Delhi.

According to the police, Sheeba was in a relationship with a Hindu man in Roorkee for more than a year, and her brother was upset about it.

Police said the crime was discovered when a police patrol team found Nawab and Akhtar at an isolated spot near the Muradnagar canal in Ghaziabad on Saturday around 4.30pm. When they were questioned, officers said, the two confessed to the murder.

The Ghaziabad police registered a suo motu first information report for murder against the two men late Sunday night.

The police said they decided to file a suo motu FIR to build a strong case against the suspects even though the deceased woman’s family was willing to give a police complaint.

According to the police, Sheeba’s family was unhappy about her relationship with a Hindu man in Roorkee, and sent her to Delhi to her cousin’s house two months ago in a bid to end her relationship.

“A couple of days ago, her brother came to the house in Shahdara and decided to murder her. Sufiyan and Mehtab took her in an auto to the Muradnagar canal in Ghaziabad at 4pm and then another 3km downstream on foot. Arriving at an isolated spot where the canal waters were deep, they asked her if she was ready to end her relationship. When she refused, the two strangulated her with a cloth and threw her body into the canal. When they were returning, a police patrol bike intercepted them in an isolated jungle area and questioned them. The two broke down and revealed the plot,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (rural).

He added that an FIR was registered at the Muradnagar police station against the two suspects under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence).

“We registered a suo motu FIR to build a strong case against the suspects. It is a case of honour killing, and there was a high probability that if the family had filed an FIR, they could have weakened the case at a later stage. So far, we have not found anything to implicate her family in Uttarakhand in the murder. In fact, they were willing to give a complaint. It was her brother and cousing who planned the murder,” DCP Yadav said.

According to the police, the suspects left Shahdara with Sheeba in an auto at 2.30pm on December 16 and reached the Muradnagar canal on the Delhi-Meerut Road at 4pm.

Investigators said that they scanned the CCTV footage in the area that sowed all three walking towards the crime scene.

“After strangulating Sheeba, they pulled off her clothes and put them in a bag. A police team also recovered a pair of slippers worn by her. The police patrol team spotted the suspects at 4.30pm while returning to Muradnagar. If the police team had not seen them, the suspects would have escaped, and it would have been difficult to unearth the plot,” said Naresh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (Muradnagar).

The Upper Ganga Canal carries a large volume of Ganga water from Haridwar to western Uttar Pradesh. The police said that they have roped in a team of divers and personnel from the National Disaster Response Force to trace Sheeba’s body.

“We have enough circumstantial evidence to build a strong case against the two suspects, and they were formally arrested after the FIR. Efforts are on to trace the body,” DCP Yadav added.