Six months after being reported missing, police recovered skull and bone fragments of a 22-year old man in a septic tank, unraveling a tale of love, deception and murder in Madhya Pradesh.
The incident happened in Deoria city of the state, where Prince Balmiki, a resident of Sagar district dissappeared without a trace. On August 20, his wife reported that the husband went missing, and despite the police's efforts, no leads were found, and the case was quietly shelved, NDTV reported.
However, the family alleged that Prince's disappearance was not an accident and kept the case alive.
The breakthrough came when the police excavated a septic tank behind the accused's house and recovered a skull and bone fragments.
The accused was traced after the police tracked his mobile phone in Narsinghpur. The accused, identified as Shoaib, allegedly confessed to drugging and murdering Prince over a love affair.
Love, deception and murder
When the police finally found the missing case and traced the victim, the story of the wife's relationship with the main accused emerged.
The cops uncovered that the accused, Shoaib, was involved in a relationship with Tulsi before the marriage.
{{/usCountry}}The cops uncovered that the accused, Shoaib, was involved in a relationship with Tulsi before the marriage.
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After being married for a month, Tulsi's behaviour reportedly changed, and the couple often fought at home. Soon after, they moved to Deori and stayed at Tulsi's parents' house.
After moving to Deori, Shoaib allegedly befriended Prince and hooked him on drugs. Shoaib, who himself was addicted, was secretly meeting Tulsi. When Prince discovered these tensions between them escalated.
Police told NDTV that Shoaib confessed to drugging Prince and then murdering him. He allegedly dumped Prince's body in a septic tank behind his house and covered it with garbage.
For nearly a month, Shoaib monitored the site and sprinkled salt over the body to accelerate the decomposition process. When police excavated the tank, they found human remains, including a skull and other skeletal remains, the report said.
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Meanwhile, Tulsi and Shoaib fled to Gujarat and were living together.
Prince's brother said that the family was suspicious about his death, and they never believed it was an accident. "We never accepted that he simply went missing. We kept pressing for an investigation," he was quoted as saying.