First she was raped by her father-in-law before being murdered and buried in a pit dug outside her marital home in Haryana’s Faridabad. Disturbing new details have emerged in the killing of a 24-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh allegedly took place in April and remained undetected for nearly two months as her in-laws claimed she had gone missing.
The victim, a native of Shikohabad in Firozabad district, had married in Faridabad in July 2023. Less than two years into the marriage, she was reportedly facing harassment over dowry demands. Her body was recovered on June 21, buried beneath a concrete slab laid over a 10-foot-deep pit outside her in-laws’ residence.
According to the police, the father-in-law has confessed during custodial interrogation. He is currently under a three-day police remand with the district crime unit.
The police said that the plan to kill the woman was finalised on April 14. As part of the plan, her mother-in-law was sent to attend a wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah to provide an alibi. On the night of April 21, the woman’s husband allegedly mixed sleeping pills into the food served to her and his sister. Both women, sleeping in separate rooms on different floors, fell unconscious.
According to the father-in-law’s confession, he entered the room late that night intending to kill her. Before proceeding with the murder, he allegedly raped his unconscious daughter-in-law. He did not disclose this act to his wife or son at the time, police said.
After the assault, the father-in-law called his son upstairs. Together, they allegedly wrapped the woman’s body and threw it into a pit that had already been excavated in the street just outside the house. The pit, which neighbours had believed was for sewerage work, was filled with bricks and soil after the body was placed inside. A concrete slab was laid over it days later.
The ditch, police confirmed, was prepared under the pretext of drainage repairs and excavated using an earthmover, witnessed by neighbours. The body was buried shortly before the father-in-law filed a missing person’s complaint on April 25.
The partially decomposed body of the woman was recovered before being sent for autopsy. Following the discovery, an FIR was registered naming four members of the family, including the father-in-law, the mother-in-law, the husband and the sister-in-law.
According to the victim’s sister, the woman had suffered persistent abuse throughout her marriage. Within months of her wedding, she returned to her parents’ home and stayed there for over a year due to the mistreatment.
The sister also claimed that the in-laws were unhappy with the dowry received and had been pressuring her for more money and gifts since early in the marriage. These allegations, police confirm, are being investigated as a potential motive.
