Pratapgarh (UP), Nov 3 The body of a 27-year-old man, who had been missing for six days, was recovered from a pit near his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, with police suspecting that he was murdered by two “friends” over a love affair, officials said on Tuesday.
One of the accused has been taken into custody and is being questioned, police said.
Station House Officer (SHO) of Sangramgarh police station Siddharth Singh said the victim, identified as Brijendra Singh, a resident of Pratappur village, had gone out to guard agricultural fields on the night of October 27 but did not return home.
Following his disappearance, his brother Virendra Singh lodged a missing person complaint on October 28.
Brijendra’s mobile phone was recovered near a canal culvert in the village on Monday, following which police intensified their investigation. During the probe, police detained Brijendra’s “friend” Neeraj Singh for questioning.
During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to killing Brijendra along with his friend Sahil by strangling him, according to the SHO.
Acting on Neeraj’s alleged disclosure, police recovered Brijendra’s body from a pit where it had been buried, around 200 metres from his house, Singh said.
The accused told police that the murder was committed following a dispute related to a love affair, the SHO said but did not elaborate.
He said a detailed probe is on the matter and more would be clear after the interrogation of the accused.
A murder case has been registered against Neeraj Singh and Sahil, the SHO said.
The body has been sent for a post-mortem, police said.
(PTI News)
