Husband, Lover Arrested For Killing Wife, Dumping Body In UP River

A man and his purported lover have been arrested for allegedly murdering the former's wife and disposing her body in the Gomti river, officials said on Monday.

According to police, the accused have been identified as Umendra Pratap Singh (31) and his lover Aarti Verma (31).

On the intervening night of July 30-31, Umendra, a resident of Rahimabad police station area, submitted a formal complaint at the station regarding the disappearance of his wife Anjali Singh.

Based on the complaint, a missing person report was registered, and a search operation was initiated. On July 31, the body of an unidentified woman was recovered from the Gomti river in Itaunja police station area. The deceased was later identified by family members as Anjali.

Subsequently, based on a complaint by the deceased's brother who alleged foul play by the husband, a case was registered at Rahimabad police station under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 103(1) (murder) and 238 (tampering with evidence, giving false information) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Umendra Pratap Singh was arrested near Adaura Mod on the night of August 1.

During interrogation, Umendra revealed that his wife Anjali had become aware of his relationship with a woman named Aarti Verma, and had objected to it on several occasions.

In a bid to eliminate the hurdle, Umendra, in collusion with Aarti, murdered Anjali by smothering and strangling her on the intervening night of July 30-31. They later dumped the deceased's body in Gomti river.

Umendra then removed the deceased's jewellery from their home to portray that she had left, and gave them to Aarti.

The next day, he went to Rahimabad Police station and filed a missing person report.

Based on Umendra's disclosure, Aarti Verma was arrested and 32 pieces of the deceased's jewellery, two mobile phones, and the Swift Dzire car used to transport the deceased body to the river were recovered, police said. 

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