Noida: Man gets life for killing 19-year-old Delhi woman

A man in his 40s was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for the murder of a 19-year-old woman, whose body was found inside his rented accommodation in Noida’s Sector 63 in March 2024

A man in his 40s was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for the murder of a 19-year-old woman, whose body was found inside his rented accommodation in Noida’s Sector 63 in March 2024.

The court noted that the accused, a married man, was in a physical relationship with the victim, who had been pressuring him to marry her.

The order was passed by additional sessions judge Satyendra Singh of the fast-track court, which held that the prosecution had successfully established a complete chain of circumstantial evidence against the convict.

Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Abdul Nassar v. State of Kerala and Another (2025), the court underscored that in cases hinging on circumstantial proof, the prosecution must forge an unbroken link of circumstances that conclusively points to the accused’s guilt, while ruling out all other plausible hypotheses of innocence.

“The prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused took the deceased from her house, and she was not seen with any other person thereafter. The accused failed to provide any explanation for this circumstance,” the judge observed in his order.

The victim, a resident of Dallupura in east Delhi and a native of Ballia, was found dead at the accused’s house in Chhajarsi on the night of March 27, 2024. Her father filed a complaint at the Sector 63 police station the following day.

Charges under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code were framed on August 29, 2024. During the trial, the prosecution examined eight witnesses, including the victim’s parents, brother, the post-mortem doctors, and investigating officers.

The victim’s parents testified that they were at work when the man, an acquaintance, took their daughter to his house. After repeated attempts to contact her, they were informed of her death when the police answered her phone. Her brother told the court that the accused had taken her on the pretext of visiting an aunt, and that the family later discovered the accused was married with children and in a relationship with his sister.

The autopsy surgeon confirmed that the victim sustained four cut injuries around her neck and ligature marks, and died of asphyxia due to strangulation.

Prosecuting counsel Shilpi Bhadoria argued that the accused had taken the woman to his house and strangled her, with the cloth recovered on his disclosure. The defence, however, cited lapses in the investigation.

The court hinged its conviction on five circumstances: the accused was last seen with the deceased; he had a motive; the strangulation cloth was recovered at his instance; the body was found in his house; and he went absconding after the incident.

“The court convicted the man under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for life along with a fine of ₹50,000. In default of payment of the fine, he shall undergo one additional year of imprisonment,” the order reads. “Out of the fine amount, ₹40,000 shall be paid as compensation to the parents of the deceased.”