- A decomposed body in women's clothes was found near the Muscat Phatak railway wall.
- Piyush Kumar Kharwar was arrested and confessed to killing Chandan Kumar.
- Chandan posed as a woman online, deceiving Piyush into a same-sex relationship.
A romance that began on social media has ended in murder, after a 20-year-old man in Rajkot Rural discovered that his partner had spent three years pretending to be a woman.
The investigation started on June 25, when police found a badly decomposed body wearing women's clothes near the Muscat Phatak railway wall. It was first recorded as an accidental death. However, a post-mortem report showed serious head injuries, which led officers to reopen it as a murder case.
Police used CCTV footage and information gathered from the ground to trace the accused. They eventually arrested 20-year-old Piyush Kumar Kharwar, who admitted to the crime during questioning.
According to police, Piyush had connected with someone on Facebook under the name Nisha Kumar, and on Instagram as Poonam. The person behind these accounts was Chandan Kumar, who had presented himself as a woman to gain Piyush's trust. The two eventually moved in together.
Police said Chandan repeatedly avoided physical closeness, giving religious vows as the reason. Piyush went on to accept Chandan as his wife, even applying vermilion as part of the ceremony. The truth came out only when Piyush saw Chandan shaving, and realised his partner was in fact a man who had wanted a same-sex relationship.
After the discovery, tensions between the two grew, with Chandan following Piyush through Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, before eventually reaching a factory in Padvala, Rajkot. On 21 June, an argument between the two broke out at Piyush's workplace.
Police said Piyush then took Chandan to a secluded area near the railway tracks, where he attacked him with large stones, killing him. He hid the body under rocks before returning to work for his shift.
Rajkot Rural Superintendent of Police Vijaysinh Gurjar confirmed that a murder case has been registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and that the legal process is now underway.
