Former village head, nephew held for woman's murder in Jhansi; one absconding

Jhansi (UP), Aug 20 (PTI) A former village head and his nephew were on Wednesday arrested for the murder of a woman, chopping her body parts and throwing them at various places, a senior official said.

A third accused in the case is still absconding.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) B B G T S Murthy said body parts of an unidentified woman were recovered on August 13 from a well in Kishorpura village under Todi-Fatehpur police station limits.

He said the head and legs of the body were missing, and added that multiple police teams were formed to crack the case.

During investigations, police learned that Rachna Yadav (35) of Mahewa village had been missing for several days.

Further probe revealed that former village head, Mahewa Sanjay Patel (41), had been in a relationship with her for the past two years.

Yadav had allegedly extorted large sums of money from Patel and had recently been pressuring him to marry her, the police said.

To get rid of her, Patel allegedly conspired with his nephew Sandeep Patel (25) and associate Pradeep alias Deepak Ahirwar, he said.

The accused strangled Yadav in a car in the intervening night of August 9 and 10, dismembered her body with an axe and disposed of the parts at different locations — dumping the body and arms in a well at Kishorpura and throwing the head and legs into the nearby Raivan river.

The police recovered body parts from both locations.

Sanjay Patel and Sandeep Patel were arrested near Lakheri dam and sent to jail, while a reward of Rs 25,000 has been announced for information leading to the arrest of Pradeep Ahirwar, who remains on the run, the SSP said. PTI COR ABN ABN KSS KSS