‘Lover’ held for woman’s murder

Nearly a week after a headless and mutilated body of an unidentified woman was found in a drain in Sector 108, Noida, the police arrested a man in this connection on Friday.

The accused has been identified as Monu Singh (32), a resident of Sector 49, Noida.

The police were alerted last week that the headless and naked body of an unidentified woman had been found in an 8-foot-deep drain, barely a km from the Noida Police Commissionerate.

Her hands had been chopped off at the wrists, possibly in an attempt to conceal her identity. The victim was later identified as Preeti (33), a resident of Sector 49.

As many as 40 police teams scanned around 50,000 vehicles and reviewed CCTV cameras to get clue about the accused.

“Initially, a few vehicles near the spot with the headlights off came under suspicion, but nothing concrete emerged,” said Rajeev Narayan Mishra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Gautam Budh Nagar.

The police zeroed in on a private bus. They got details about the bus and identified its driver, Monu Singh, as the prime suspect. During interrogation, Singh revealed a tangled relationship with Preeti.

The woman, originally from West Bengal, had been living in Noida since 2023 with her two young daughters after separating from her husband.

Singh was residing next door with his wife and children. He had allegedly been in a relationship with Preeti for the past over two years.

According to the police, Preeti was reportedly pressuring Singh to leave his wife and marry her. She had also loaned him around Rs 2 lakh and was reportedly asking him to return the money.

Investigators said Singh claimed that the woman threatened him that she would push her daughters in flesh trade in future. He also suspected that she was involved with someone else.

On the night of the incident, Singh allegedly asked Preeti to go on a ride with him in on his bus. After visiting multiple locations, he parked the bus near a secluded place close to Sector 108. He attacked her inside the bus with a butcher’s knife.

He allegedly severed her head and chopped off her hands on suspicion that her fingerprints and facial recognition might reveal her identity. He dumped the torso in the Sector 108 drain before driving to Ghaziabad to dispose the remaining body parts.

The police have recovered all missing body parts and seized the bus for forensic examination.