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‘Man who killed girlfriend, parents set up US-style house to lure women’

Udayan Das repainted his living room, added curtains, United States flags and decorated the walls with expensive paintings of animals and other items, police said.

Updated on: Feb 10, 2017, 17:58:27 IST
Hindustan Times, Bhopal | By
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A 32-year-old man accused of killing his parents and live-in partner painted and decorated his Bhopal room to resemble an apartment in New York to dupe her and possibly other women, police said on Friday.

Udyan Das was arrested in Bhopal for allegedly killing his live-in partner and hiding the body at his home by building a marbled platform. (PTI)
Udyan Das was arrested in Bhopal for allegedly killing his live-in partner and hiding the body at his home by building a marbled platform. (PTI)

Udayan Das hit the headlines last week after police found a raised marble platform in his living room where he had hid his partner Akanksha Sharma’s body after allegedly killing her.

Das met Akanksha online in 2007 and told her that he lived in New York. To make her believe the lie, he repainted the room, added curtains, United States flags and decorated the walls with expensive paintings of animals and other items, police said.

During video chats, he used to sit in that room to make her to believe his claims as true, they added.

“He used his mind brilliantly to befool others by decorating the room. Even, when we entered the room, for some point of time even I felt that I had reached the US,” said Forensic Science Laboratory senior scientist Dinesh Sharma.

“We recovered many things which he had purchased just to impress others.”

Police said the revelation might help explain why Akanksha told her parents in West Bengal’s Bankura that she was leaving for a job in UNICEF in New York. She lived with him for 20-odd days.

Police added that Udayan might have killed Akanksha under the fear of being exposed after finding a return ticket she had booked. Investigators say Udayan initially convinced Akanksha that he was an NRI who was in Bhopal for some work but she might have realized his ploy.

Udayan allegedly killed his parents in 2010 at their home in Raipur and buried their bodies in the garden. He killed Akanskha in July 2016. Later he allegedly placed her body in a metal box and poured concrete to create a mausoleum of sorts inside his bedroom. He covered the block with marble.

Udayan also created a virtual world and websites in his name. To mislead others and conceal his crimes, he kept his parents and live-in-partner Akanksha alive on social media.

“Maybe to save himself, he is pretending to be mentally ill but according to evidences collected from his house, he seems to be very cunning and intelligent,” Sharma said.

  • Shruti Tomar
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Shruti Tomar

    I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.Read More