Chhattisgarh: Man arrested for murdering nurse, trying to pass it off as suicide

In a fit of rage, he stabbed the girl to death and tried to make it look like suicide by placing the knife in her hand before escaping.

A 21-year-old man was arrested within hours of killing his girlfriend and attempting to stage the crime as a suicide in Raipur, the police said on Thursday.

Representational image.

A joint team of the Anti-Crime and Cyber Unit and Tikrapara police apprehended the accused, identified as Durgesh Verma, a resident of Bada Ashok Nagar in Raipur, officials said.

According to the police, victim Priyanka Das (23) worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Raipur and hailed from Haldibari in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district. She was living in a rented house near Patel Chowk in Lalpur under Tikrapara police station limits.

“On the intervening night of October 8 and 9, the person entered her rented accommodation and allegedly stabbed her to death with a knife. The attacker then placed the weapon in her hand in an attempt to make it appear as a suicide before fleeing the scene,” the Raipur police stated.

“During the investigation, our teams collected statements from neighbours and identified Durgesh Verma,” the police said.

Police said Verma confessed during interrogation that he was in a relationship with Das for about a year. He told the police that he suspected her of cheating on him, which led to frequent arguments between them. Acting on suspicion, he bought a vegetable knife from a shop and visited her house late at night, where a heated argument ensued. In a fit of rage, he stabbed her to death and tried to make it look like suicide by placing the knife in her hand before escaping.

The police have recovered the murder weapon and Verma has been booked under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Tikrapara police station.