The Delhi Police on Monday, 21st October, recovered the dead body of a 20-year-old girl identified as Sonia, a resident of the Nangloi region in Delhi. The girl was reportedly murdered by accused Salim who had posed himself as a Hindu named Sanju. The accused trapped the girl in a love affair by claiming that he was a Hindu. He made her believe that he was in ‘love’ with her. Later he sexually assaulted the girl, resulting in her pregnancy. When the girl asked the accused to marry him, he called her to meet and murdered her with the help of two of his friends.
The incident came to the fore after the girl went missing on Sunday, 20th October and the family members of the girl lodged a missing person complaint. The family suspected that the accused who had identified himself as ‘Sanju’ was behind their daughter’s kidnapping. The police lodged an investigation into the case to find the dead body of the girl from the Rohtak area of Delhi. The accused had murdered the girl on 20th October and buried her body in the ground 6 ft deep.
The police eventually arrested the accused Salim who confessed that he had introduced himself as a Hindu to the girl. During the interrogation, he confessed that he had trapped the girl in a love affair. As per the initial reports, the accused and the girl had been knowing each other for several months. The accused had introduced himself as ‘Sanju’ to the girl and had made her believe that he was in love with her.
The girl used to talk to the accused over the phone and had saved her number as ‘bhoot’. The family members of the girl meanwhile knew that she was getting romantically involved with someone but were unaware that he was a Muslim. The girl also had a habit of using Instagram, where she had shared some reels with the accused saying, ‘I love bhoot’. Later the family members of the girl found out that the girl had been talking to some ‘Sanju’.
The family members of the girl claimed that ‘Sanju’ was not a good person to be with but the girl was so much in ‘love’ with him that she didn’t heed what they said. The siblings of the girl also insisted that she stay away from the accused but to no avail. She continued her ‘relationship’ with the accused who eventually began demanding sexual favors. He promised the girl of marriage and established sexual relations with the girl as a result of which she became pregnant.
The girl then asked the accused to marry him after which he decided to murder her. He told the girl that they would get married on 20th October, at the Hindu festival of Karwa Chauth. He asked the girl to keep a fast for him and asked her to meet on that day night to break the fast. The girl left her home to meet the accused on 20th October, but she never returned.
The accused took the woman in a car with his two friends, Ritik and Pankaj on the pretext of breaking the Karwa Chauth fast. However, Salim strangled the girl to death. The three then took the dead body of the girl to the ground in Rohtka where they buried her in a 6ft deep grave.
On the other hand, the family members of the girl waited for the girl to return. Further, on 21st October they filed a missing persons complaint suspecting ‘Sanju’. The brother of the girl said that she had been talking to a boy named ‘Sanju’ and suspected that he was behind her ‘kidnapping’. The family members of the girl also searched for ‘Sanju’s home and went there to ask for the girl but it was then that they learned that the man who had introduced himself as ‘Sanju’ to the girl was actually a Muslim and that his name was Salim.
The brother of the girl said that they didn’t believe at first what the family of the accused was saying. Later the family of the accused showcased original documents of Salim to prove that he was a Muslim.
The police have launched an investigation into the case and have arrested accused Salim. The other two youths who helped Salim have also been detained. The police are interrogating the case further to know whether the girl was already aware of the original religious identity of the accused. The police have filed a complaint against Salim under the relevant sections of the law.
