Missing body of Kanpur woman excavated from DM Compound | Latest news India

The suspect, Vimal Soni (37), was arrested on Saturday. The crime dates back four months, when victim Ekta Gupta went missing and her husband Rahul Gupta filed a complaint. Police said the suspect told them that the woman was having an extramarital affair with him and that he disapproved of his engagement to another woman, although the victim’s family said Soni had kidnapped the woman for ransom.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Shravan Kumar Singh said Soni had initially misled the police during interrogation and said Ekta was in Kashmir looking for a job. Later, he broke down and said he had killed her and dumped the body in the Ganga, the officer said.

“We found contradictions in his statements about where he disposed of the body. Finally, he told us about the location,” Singh said.

Soni confessed that he killed Ekta in his car, dug a grave three meters deep and one meter wide and buried her there – without being noticed. Officers said they were investigating whether the murder was premeditated, although Soni has revealed he has seen the Bollywood film Drishyam – in which the main character buries a body in the grounds of a police station at least twenty times to avoid suspicion, which helped him with the modus operandi.

The spot where Ekta’s body was exhumed is located five feet away from the guard post on the campus and is separated by a wall running between the club and the DM’s residence. The campus houses residences of many judicial, administrative and police officers. The body was exhumed around 2 a.m. after four hours of digging in the presence of forensic experts and Ekta’s husband, Rahul Gupta.

“We are investigating whether the murder was premeditated as the accused dug a three-metre grave to ensure quick decomposition of the body,” Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Harish Chander said.

According to police, Ekta left the gym in Green Park, about 100 meters away from her home in Civil Lines area, around 6.30 am on June 24 and got into Soni’s car in the parking lot, as seen in CCTV camera footage. During the altercation, Soni hit her after which she fell unconscious. He then strangled the victim and flattened her chair to ensure she was not visible. On June 25, police found the car outside Soni’s sister’s house in the Juhi military camp, about 7 km away from the gym. According to senior officers, a piece of cloth, a rope, a broken SIM card and her hair bag were found in the trunk.

The police examined his phone records and traced his phone near Sarsaiya Ghat, near the DM’s residence, around 7.45 am. At 8.20 am, his location was traced near Jhari Baba Parao, following which Soni went incognito. Soni was also seen in the CCTV footage from the compound, but Ekta’s family claimed these details were not looked into.

DCP Singh said Soni did not use his phone at all while he was on the run. “He withdrew ₹2,000 from an ATM in Agra and returned to Kanpur after the money ran out. His location was traced to Mall Road from where he was arrested,” Singh added.

Meanwhile, Ekta’s husband Rahul, a 35-year-old businessman, refuted claims that his wife was having an extramarital affair and said the suspect had spiked her protein shake to kidnap her for money.

Soni was named in the FIR filed for kidnapping at Kotwali police on June 24 by her husband. Soni hid in Amritsar for the first time after spending some time in Gwalior. The victim’s family gathered information about his whereabouts from his relatives and shared the data with police, people familiar with the matter said.

Police did not respond to questions about the family’s allegations, despite repeated requests.

“We kept saying he kidnapped and killed her, but the police kept deflecting the issue and saying it was a romantic entanglement. I wrote to everyone from the commissioner to the Prime Minister’s office but nothing happened,” Rahul told reporters after Ekta’s letter was recovered. The victim’s family also claimed that the evidence found in the car was only later subjected to forensic examination.

Police have also said that Soni took the body in his car to the officers’ club through a gate 10 feet away from where she was buried. However, the width of the gate is 1,676 mm, while the car is 1,680 mm wide, making it unclear how the suspect achieved this. People privy to the matter also said that the gates of the club are also locked from inside, pointing to how Soni opened it at 7.15 am without anyone noticing.

Soni has been a personal trainer to various IPS and IAS officers for the past 15 years, the people said, adding that he has previously been dismissed from several places for inappropriate conduct.

ACP Chander indicated that police are investigating whether Soni acted alone or was assisted in the crime. “We are investigating the matter thoroughly and all angles will be explored,” he said.

Soni was produced before a magistrate on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody. “The police will ensure that the suspect is tried in a fast-track court,” the DCP added.