A couple has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur for allegedly murdering and dismembering a 20-year-old man after investigators found a digital trail on their smartphones, including YouTube queries on how to evade capital punishment, dispose of a body, survive a police encounter, and prison amenities, police said on Tuesday.
Kiran Devi and her husband, Kamta Nishad, were picked up for questioning based on the former's high call volume with Vijay Nishad, who went missing on May 8. Inconsistencies in their accounts prompted a forensic examination of their mobile phones, which showed the incriminating search history.
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Police superintendent Abhimanyu Manglik said Vijay Nishad had an affair with Kiran Devi, who allegedly lured him to her house, where her husband bludgeoned him to death. “They then used a grinder machine to sever the limbs, packed the remains into a sack, and drove to a forest area in Kanpur’s Reuna where they incinerated the body using petrol to erase all clues.”
Investigators said Vijay Nishad visited Devi's village to meet relatives and had allegedly posted her intimate photographs on social media. Kamta Nishad, who worked as a migrant labourer in Gujarat, stumbled upon the photographs, forcing him to quit his job, return home, and plan the murder with his wife.
{{/usCountry}}Investigators said Vijay Nishad visited Devi's village to meet relatives and had allegedly posted her intimate photographs on social media. Kamta Nishad, who worked as a migrant labourer in Gujarat, stumbled upon the photographs, forcing him to quit his job, return home, and plan the murder with his wife.
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Vijay Nishad's family contested the police version that the couple acted alone. His relatives said that villagers had seen him being assaulted by a larger group on the night he vanished. They argued that Devi is pregnant, and that Kamta Nishad has a medical iron rod embedded in his leg, making it physically impossible for just two people to dismember, transport, and dispose of a body without help.
Police have registered a case of murder and causing the disappearance of evidence, and the recovered remains have been sent for forensic examination.