Gym trainer kills woman in Kanpur, dumps body near District Magistrate’s office

A gym trainer allegedly killed a married woman he was having an affair with and hid her body in a pit near the District Magistrate’s (DM’s) camp office-cum-residence here at Civil Lines. Inspired by the crime thriller ‘Drishyam’, he hoped police would not look there.

Vimal Soni’s plan seemed to have worked for four months until police finally caught up with him and he was arrested on Saturday night.

During interrogation, he confessed to killing 32-year-old Ekta Gupta, a Civil Lines resident, who was found to be married to a stock trader, police said on Sunday.

“Vimal said he killed Ekta because she was upset about his impending marriage,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shrawan Kumar Singh said.

“On June 24, Vimal picked up Ekta from the gym and drove to a secluded location to discuss their relationship. A heated argument ensued, during which Vimal punched Ekta in the neck, leading to her death,” said the DCP.

Inspired by the movie ‘Drishyam’, Vimal chose a location near the DM’s camp office to dispose of the body, believing it to be a less likely place to be discovered, the officer said.

Police said the spot where he allegedly killed her was only a few hundred metres away from the DM’s camp office.

“The accused dug an eight-feet-deep pit inside the officer’s club adjacent to the camp office-cum-residence of the district magistrate and buried the body there,” said the officer.

Despite his meticulous planning—Soni had avoided using his phone around the area to avoid detection—police successfully recovered the body and arrested the accused, he said.