Meera tampered with proof to pass off murder as natural death: Police

The wife of UP Legislative Council chairman Ramesh Yadav, who is accused of murdering her 22-year -old son Abhijit, spent over six hours with the body, tampering with evidence to portray the murder as ‘natural death’.

The wife of UP Legislative Council chairman Ramesh Yadav, who is accused of murdering her 22-year -old son Abhijit, spent over six hours with the body, tampering with evidence to portray the murder as ‘natural death’, police said on Monday.

Meera confessed before the investigators that she strangled Abhijit with the head cover following a verbal spat. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

“Meera Yadav applied ointment on the neck of Abhijit’s body to hide the strangulation marks. She even tried to burn her dupatta used in the murder ,” said senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani.

Police have recovered the tube of the ointment and an electric stove that she allegedly used .

As per the police probe, Meera was alone with Abhijit at the official quarters at the time of the incident. She confessed before the investigators that she strangled Abhijit with the head cover following a verbal spat. The incident occurred at around 2 AM. From then till 9 AM when she called her elder son Abhishek, Meera tampered with the evidence. She tried to mislead the police officials who reached the quarters in the afternoon to stall investigation. The idea to cremate the body in afternoon was also hers . But police foiled her plan and sent the body for post-mortem examination that pointed towards murder.

“She pleaded innocence, stressing that Abhijit died a natural death . She even asked the police officials to vacate her residence,” said a senior police officer who reached the spot a few hours later on Sunday afternoon. Though she tried to shield the truth by this behaviour, it had the opposite effect, cops said.

“Our suspicion of foul play grew due to her behaviour and we decided to ensure a post mortem examination ,” the officer said.

Investigators also took cognisance of possible tampering with evidence and added Section 201(causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC in the FIR along with murder.