Lover kills woman, throws her body into valley before ending own life in Chhattisgarh

Kabirdham, Chhattisgarh: A 38-year-old woman school teacher was killed and her body was thrown into a valley by her lover, who allegedly died by suicide later by jumping into a river in Chhattisgarh, police said on Tuesday.

The landlord of the deceased accused was arrested on charges of helping him to hide the woman's body, they said.

The murder took place on August 2 in Lolesara village in Bemetara district, but it came to light after the victim woman's mother lodged a missing person's complaint in adjoining Kabirdham district on August 8, Kabirdham Additional Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar told PTI.

Savitri Vishwakarma, a resident of Dasrangpur police chowki area in Kabirdham district, lodged a police complaint that her daughter Sapna Vishwakarma, who was a teacher at Baghamuda government school, went missing on July 27, he said.

Subsequently, Sapna's call details record and mobile phone locations revealed that she stayed in Lolesara (Bemetara) for a month till August 1, he said.

During the investigation, the police zeroed in on Raghunath Sahu, a resident of Lolesara, who had given his house on rent to Ram Ashish Upadhyay, 43, with whom the woman was in a relationship, Kumar said.

"Sahu told the police that Upadhyay and Sapna were staying together in his house as tenants and the duo used to fight frequently. Around 3 am on August 2, Upadhyay called Sahu, who lives in another house nearby, and asked him to come to his place," the ASP said.

When Sahu reached the place, Upadhyay told him that he murdered Sapna by strangulating her following a dispute between them and sought the landlord's help in hiding her body, he said.

Subsequently, Upadhyay took Sahu along with him to the former's native place in Bhilai town in neighbouring Durg district and brought his SUV, a Scorpio, from there to Lolesara. The duo then wrapped the body in a bedsheet and took it in the vehicle to Keshkal Ghati, more than 250 km away from Bemetara, on Raipur-Jagdalpur road and dumped it into the valley there, he said.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, a body was found in Shivnath river in Bemetara and the deceased was identified to be Upadhyay, he said.

Prima facie, he died by suicide by jumping into the river fearing arrest in the murder case, he said.

The partially-decomposed body of the woman was recovered from Keshkal Ghati on Monday and the SUV used in the offence was also seized, he said.

Sahu was arrested on charges of aiding the murder accused and the case has been transferred to Bemetara police for further probe, he added.