Rajasthan govt school teacher held for killing woman he befriended on Facebook

A government school teacher in Rajasthan’s Barmer district has been taken into custody for allegedly killing a woman who had travelled nearly 600 km from Jhunjhunu to meet him, police said on Monday.

According to a police officer, the teacher and the woman had become acquainted through Facebook in October 2024 and had since developed a friendship. She had been visiting him frequently and had arrived in Barmer on September 10 and had been staying at his residence since.

The accused, Manaram (38), from Chava village in the Sadar area, killed Mukesh Kumari (37) by hitting her with a rod at his house before placing her body on the driver’s seat of her own car to make it appear like an accident, Superintendent of Police Narendra Kumar Meena said.

“The woman’s body was found in a car parked in Shiv Nagar under RIICO police station limits. Preliminary investigation suggests that the accused murdered her at his home and later kept the body in the vehicle,” he said.

He added that forensic teams, a dog squad, and a mobile crime unit were deployed at the site to collect evidence. “The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained. The matter is under investigation.”