Woman murdered over Rs 2,500 in Kotla Mubarakpur

A 32-year-old woman was killed at an under-construction site in Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday. Police said the murder happened over a tiff she had with a man, to whom

A 32-year-old woman was killed at an under-construction site in Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday. Police said the murder happened over a tiff she had with a man, to whom she had lent Rs 2500 and had been asking him to return the money.

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While the woman was killed on December 11, her decomposed body was discovered six days later on Thursday, said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (south).

The suspect, Ajay, was arrested after the police’s local enquiry revealed that he was the last person seen with the woman, said Thakur.

The victim, Kajal, was a widow who lived with her sister in Kotla Mubarakpur and worked odd jobs. A few months ago, she had lent R2,500 to a local man named Ajay who is a labourer.

Police have identified Ajay and Kajal only by their first names.

“For the past few days, she was repeatedly asking Ajay to return her money. But Ajay didn’t have money to return and was going on seeking an extension for the deadline,” said another police officer who didn’t want to be identified.

“On Thursday, he called the woman to an under-construction site in the same neighborhood on the pretext of returning the money. There, he strangled her to death and then crushed her face with a stone in a bid to hide her identity,” the officer said.

He then covered her face with a cloth and fled the spot. The body lay there undetected and decomposing for six days, said the officer.

When the body was finally discovered on Sunday, the investigators found no documents to identify the woman. Local enquiry, however, helped ascertain her identity after which the police began checking for people who may have seen anyone with her.

That finally helped the police zero down on Ajay and arrest him.