Woman, 52, Killed By 26-Year-Old Lover, She Used Instagram Filter To Appear Younger

Pressured by a 52-year-old Instagram friend to marry her and return a loan that he had taken from her, a 26-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh allegedly killed her by strangling her with her 'dupatta'. 

The man told the police that the woman, who was a mother of four children, also allegedly used an Instagram filter to make her look younger and this was one of the factors that put him off marrying here despite them being in a relationship. 

Mainpuri Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh said on Tuesday that the police found an unidentified woman's body near Karpari village in the district on August 11. Strangulation marks on her neck indicated she was murdered and this was confirmed after a post-mortem was done. 

After checking with several police stations in the state, they identified the woman as a resident of Farrukhabad, based on a missing complaint. 

Mr Singh said when they identified the accused, Arun Rajput, and took him in for questioning, he told them he had become acquainted with the woman on Instagram and they had been friends for a year and a half. 

"Two months ago, they exchanged numbers and began speaking to each other regularly on the phone. They also met several times. On August 11, the woman travelled from Farrukhabad to Mainpuri to meet Rajput. He told us the woman had been pressuring him to marry her for some time and she brought up the topic again that day. She had also loaned about Rs 1.5 lakh to him and asked him to return the money," the police officer said. 

"He said he had been angry for some time about the pressure being exerted on him and strangled the woman with the 'dupatta' she was wearing. He then took her phone after getting rid of the SIM card. We have recovered the phones and accessed the messages exchanged between them. Rajput has been arrested for the woman's murder," he added.

Asked whether the woman's age played any role in the murder, Mr Singh said, "The accused has said that the woman used a filter on Instagram that made her appear younger. When he met her for the first time, he found out her actual age. The woman was also married and had children. These factors made him not want to marry her."

(With inputs from Pramod Kumar Pandey)