Tinder match, suitcase murder - and now, a wedding: The chilling tale of Priya Seth
Priya Seth’s journey from a dating app to a prison cell, and now a wedding on parole, reads like a dark crime thriller - chilling, brutal, and tragic.
On a winter morning in January 2026, as wedding preparations quietly unfold in a village in Rajasthan's Alwar district, the bride's name draws uneasy attention. Priya Seth, 34, is not an ordinary bride. She is a life-term convict - the woman at the centre of one of Jaipur’s most chilling crimes: the Tinder suitcase murder.

Priya is in the news again after being granted a 15-day parole to marry fellow life-term convict Hanuman Prasad, whom she met and fell in love with inside Rajasthan’s Sanganer open jail. Their relationship, forged behind prison walls, has culminated in a wedding that has sparked outrage, reopening memories of a crime that once horrified the nation.
A match that seemed perfect
In early 2018, Dushyant Sharma, a 27-year-old aspiring businessman, matched with Priya Seth on Tinder. Their conversations stretched over weeks. They spoke of ambitions, life, and love. Dushyant believed he had found companionship. Priya, however, was playing a far more dangerous game.
Unknown to him, she was living with her partner Dikshant Kamra, buried under ₹21 lakh in debt. Together, they planned a kidnapping-for-ransom plot. Dushyant, who posed online as a wealthy businessman, seemed like the perfect target.
When Priya invited him to her rented flat in Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur, Dushyant walked in trusting a stranger he thought he knew.
He never walked out.
The trap closes
The moment Dushyant entered the flat, he was overpowered, restrained, and held captive. Along with accomplice Lakshya Walia, the trio demanded ₹10 lakh from his family.
A terrified phone call reached his father.
“Papa, they will kill me. Please give them ₹10 lakh,” Dushyant begged.
His family scrambled but could manage only ₹3 lakh. It was transferred, but it wasn’t enough.
Fearing exposure and unwilling to let their victim go, the accused decided to silence him forever.
Murder in cold blood
What followed was savage.
They strangled Dushyant, smothered him with a pillow, and when he still showed signs of life, stabbed him repeatedly, slitting his throat.
His body was then stuffed inside a suitcase and dumped in a village on Jaipur’s outskirts.
When the suitcase was discovered days later, the gruesome scene stunned the nation. The case dominated headlines, igniting debates on dating-app safety, trust, and the growing threat of digital-era crimes.
Confession and life sentence
After her arrest, Priya Seth confessed.
“He lied about his identity. He said he was rich. We needed money. So we planned to kidnap and kill,” she told investigators.
In 2023, a Jaipur court sentenced her and her accomplices to life imprisonment, calling the murder cold-blooded, premeditated, and brutal.
She was transferred to Sanganer open jail, part of Rajasthan’s prison reform system, where selected inmates live in less restrictive conditions and work during the day.
It was here, behind the thin lines of prison freedom, that fate took another disturbing turn.
Murders find love behind prison walls
At the open jail, Priya met Hanuman Prasad, another life convict - a man convicted of murdering a man, his three sons, and a nephew in Alwar after an affair with the victim’s wife.
Two violent pasts collided. A relationship formed. Over months, companionship turned into attachment, and attachment into plans for marriage.
Earlier this month, the Rajasthan high court directed authorities to decide swiftly on their parole pleas. The parole committee approved 15 days of temporary release - not for medical treatment or family emergency, but for marriage.
The wedding
Their wedding, scheduled for January 24, 2026, has sparked intense public debate.
For some, it is a story of reform and second chances. For others, especially Dushyant Sharma’s grieving family, it is a painful reminder of a son lost in horrifying circumstances.
His family has vowed to challenge the parole order, saying they were not informed and that justice feels hollow when murder convicts walk free, even temporarily, to celebrate life’s milestones.
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