Ghaziabad man kills live-in partner, dumps body in canal; arrested

Man arrested for murdering live-in partner, dumping body in canal. Suspect admitted to killing as he wanted to end the relationship.

The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly murdering his 28-year-old live-in partner on July 22 and dumping her body in a canal, said senior police officers on Wednesday, adding that the man was married and killed the woman as he wanted to end his relationship with her.

Police said the suspect Mohammad Alam (above), who hails from Hapur, used to frequently visit her and stay with her over the past four years. He killed her as he wanted to end their relationship, they said. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The deceased was identified as Pooja Devi, a mother of three children, who was separated from her husband living at a house in Sector 9, Vijay Nagar. Police said the suspect Mohammad Alam, who hails from Hapur, used to frequently visit her and stay with her over the past four years.

Police said Alam is already married and has four children with his wife.

According to police, on July 22, Alam gave a missing person complaint saying that Pooja Devi was not to be found. A day later, Devi’s sister also filed a missing person complaint and told police that her mobile phone was coming as switched off.

“After the second missing person complaint, police got suspicious and questioned Alam at length. He broke down and admitted to killing Devi. He told us that his son was admitted to a hospital since the past several days and Devi was pressuring him to stay with her and not visit the hospital. As a result, the two had an altercation near the hospital,” said Rajesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (city zone).

“Alam told us that he took Devi in a Santro car to a canal near Masuri and strangled her to death on the night of July 22. He later dumped the body in the canal,” Kumar said, adding that an FIR of murder and destruction of evidence was filed at Vijay Nagar police station.

Police said Alam was a car mechanic and used the Santro car of a customer to commit the crime.

“The suspect murdered the woman in the car on an isolated road near the canal. He dumped the body in the canal and it is yet to be recovered. We seized the car used in crime and arrested the suspect for murder and destruction of evidence,” the DCP said.