UP woman finds missing husband in Instagram reel after eight years

A woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district identified her husband—who had been missing for eight years—in an Instagram reel, leading to his arrest for allegedly abandoning her and marrying another woman, police officials said on Tuesday.

Police said the accused, Jitendra alias Bablu, had left his pregnant wife, Sheelu, in 2018 and was living in Ludhiana, Punjab, where he had allegedly remarried.

The case came to light when Sheelu, a resident of Murarnagar in the Sandila area, spotted her husband in a video on Instagram recently. She approached the police, which launched an investigation that confirmed his identity and location, officials said.

Jitendra, a native of Atamau village, was reported missing by his father in 2018. At the time, the family had accused Sheelu’s relatives of foul play.

A police team led by Sub-Inspector Rajanikant Pandey held the man from Ludhiana. He has been booked based on Sheelu’s complaint, a senior officer said.

“The accused is being questioned, and further legal action is underway,” Circle Officer Santosh Kumar Singh said.