- Eyewitness described accused calmly singing after strangling journalist Salma Sultana in 2018
- Salma's body was secretly buried beneath a road in Korba, uncovered five years later by police
- Accused Madhur Sahu forced messages from Salma's phone to fake her voluntary disappearance
A cigarette burnt slowly in the darkness. A lifeless body lay still. And in the silence after murder, a song floated through the room.
Five years after journalist Salma Sultana was killed and secretly buried beneath a road in Chhattisgarh's Korba city, a courtroom revelation has stunned the state. An eyewitness has described a scene so chilling that it sounds lifted from a crime thriller, except it was horrifyingly real.
According to testimony before Additional Sessions Judge Garima Sharma, accused Madhur Sahu showed no sign of fear, panic or remorse after allegedly strangling his live-in partner to death in 2018. Instead, eyewitness Komal Singh Rajput told the court, he stood beside Salma's body, lit a cigarette and began humming her favourite song. "Tujhe Naraz Nahi Main Zindagi, Hairaan Hoon Main..." from the film 'Masoom'.
Komal Singh, who worked as a computer operator at Madhur Sahu's gym, testified that on the day of the incident she had been invited to Salma's home in Sharda Vihar. What began as an argument between the couple quickly spiralled into violence.
According to her statement, Madhur first attempted to strangle Salma during a heated exchange. When the confrontation escalated, he allegedly threw her onto the bed and strangled her again. Co-accused Kaushal Shrivas reportedly pressed a pillow over Salma's mouth to silence her.
When Komal tried to intervene, she told the court she was warned, "Stay quiet, or you'll meet the same fate."
Moments later, the room fell silent. Salma was dead. And then came the moment that has shaken the courtroom, Madhur, holding the body with one hand, smoking with the other, softly singing her favourite song. Not grief. Not shock. Just a tune.
Komal further alleged that after the murder, Madhur forced her and the household maid, Savita, to send a message from Salma's phone to her family: "I'm leaving. Don't bother me." The phone was switched off. The illusion of voluntary disappearance was created.
The witness also claimed that Madhur stored compromising photographs of several women on his computer and used them for blackmail. She testified that she had tried to inform a police officer and a relative of Salma's about the crime, but word reached the accused, and she was threatened into silence.
What followed was a calculated concealment. Investigators say the accused buried Salma's body under a road under construction near Bhawani Dabri. For five years, vehicles rolled over that stretch of asphalt, unaware that a journalist's remains lay beneath.
The secret surfaced only in 2023, when police deployed Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and satellite-based mapping technology. The road was excavated. A skeleton was recovered. DNA testing confirmed it was Salma. The case that once appeared to be a disappearance reopened as a brutal homicide.
Public Prosecutor Sunil Sonwani confirmed that 41 witnesses have already deposed in court, with 10 more remaining. Investigators say the charge sheet and forensic evidence have significantly strengthened the prosecution's case. But it is Komal Singh Rajput's testimony, particularly the image of the accused calmly singing after the murder, that has emerged as the emotional and evidentiary centrepiece of the trial.
As the case approaches its final arguments, all eyes in Chhattisgarh are now on the courtroom. The verdict, when it comes, will not just decide the fate of the accused; it will close a chapter that has haunted Korba for five long years.
