Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The prime accused in the murder of 24-year-old MBA students in Dwarkapuri was arrested in Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.
The accused was reportedly suspicious about the victim’s character and believed she was in contact with another man, which often led to disputes between them.
DCP Krishan Lalchandani said preliminary interrogation revealed that the accused Piyush Dhanotiya of Mandsaur, strangled the victim following an ongoing dispute over marriage. While the woman had agreed to marry him, the accused’s family was opposed to the alliance, leading to frequent arguments.
A preliminary probe revealed that the deceased and the accused were in a relationship for nearly six months and first met on September 8. On February 10, the accused called the victim to resolve their issues. She visited his room around 3.30 pm, where an argument escalated after their physical relations. In a fit of rage, the accused strangled her to death.
After the crime, the accused locked the room from outside and fled to Mumbai the next day by train, taking the victim’s mobile phone with him.
To conceal his identity, he purchased a new SIM card before escaping. Police sources said the accused, reportedly in a disturbed mental state after the crime, wandered through Mumbai’s local trains and metro network throughout the night.
Two police teams were dispatched to conduct extensive searches in Mandsaur and nearby districts. Through technical analysis and continuous surveillance, the suspect was traced to Mumbai. With the assistance of DCP (Zone 10) Mumbai and Andheri police station staff, the accused was taken into custody on Saturday morning.
Uploaded victim’s obscene videos to defame her’
During interrogation, the accused told police that after committing the crime, he uploaded the victim’s objectionable photos and videos to her college groups around 8 pm on the day of the incident and later posted them on her social media stories in an attempt to defame her.
When the victim did not return home, her father called her phone multiple times. On one occasion, Piyush reportedly answered and claimed he would send her home soon. He also sent a message to the victim’s family from her phone around 11 pm stating, “I will not return,” in a deliberate attempt to mislead them.
Discovery of the body
On February 13, police received information about a foul smell emanating from the accused’s room. Upon inspection, the woman’s partially decomposed naked body, wrapped in a blanket, was found lying on the bed. Both the accused and the deceased were second-semester MBA students at a college institute, and the victim had been missing since February 10.
