The accused, identified as Ashish, was reportedly pressuring the woman to marry him. The main accused in the alleged rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar took a ₹40,000 loan from a bank to hire two killers and fund the crime. The accused, identified as Ashish, was reportedly pressuring the woman to marry him. The incident took place in Bavana village in the district’s Budhana area.
Officials said that Ashish, along with his associates Shubham and Deepak, lured the woman away from her home, gang-raped her and later strangled her to death. They also burned her body in an attempt to destroy the evidence.
While Ashish was arrested by the police, his two accomplices are on the run. According to the police, he has confessed to the crime.
Muzaffarnagar SP (rural) Aditya Bansal said that the woman was last seen on January 21, reportedly on a scooter with her brother-in-law.
“The main accused was in an illicit relationship with her for two years. He told the cops that the woman was blackmailing him with some private photos and videos of them together,” Bansal was quoted as saying by Times of India. “Afraid of getting exposed, he plotted with his two associates. He took a ₹40,000 loan from a bank – paid the men ₹10,000 in advance and promised ₹20,000 after the crime.”
The officer added that the accused first gang raped the woman and then strangled her with her scarf and later burned her body to destroy evidence.
“The fact that her undergarments were found intact while the other clothes were burned raised suspicion of sexual assault. Two condom packets were also found,” he added.
