Noida: Woman murders mall employee to fake her own death
The Noida Police have apprehended a woman in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida for allegedly faking her own death by murdering another woman and dressing the corpse in her clothes. Identified as Payal Bhati, the police revealed she reportedly murdered the victim, a mall employee, on November 12 with the assistance of a male friend Ajay Thakur.
Woman murders, dresses up corpse in her own clothes
The victim, identified as Hema Chaudhary, was reportedly abducted by Thakur and Bhati. They then took her to Bhati's house in Badpura village of Uttar Pradesh's Dadri. Over there, the duo slit her wrist and murdered her, the police said. Later, they poured hot oil on the face of the victim to deform the facial features and make identification tough.
It looks like a planned murder: Police
After killing her, the police said that the duo reportedly dressed the corpse in Bhati's clothes and also left a suicide note alongside. It is learned that based on this, the dead body was handed over to her family, who then cremated her. More details of the probe, in this case, will be revealed later this week, as per senior police officials.
Fake suicide note planted by accused: Cops
"Payal Bhati and her partner Ajay Thakur killed Chaudhary after befriending her as she had similar physical attributes to Bhati. They had also planted a purported suicide note and made it appear like a case of suicide," news agency PTI quoted a Noida Police officer as saying while speaking on the case.
Victim went missing on November 12
Chaudhary's family members had filed a complaint after she went missing near Gaur city mall on November 12. "This was a well-planned murder that we are still investigating the crime and joining the dots. The suspect woman wanted to show herself as dead, before allegedly planning more murders and eloping with her lover," additional deputy commissioner of police Saad Miya Khan said.
Here's how police caught the accused
"We were able to crack the case while investigating the missing complaint of Hema. We scanned CCTV footage around the mall and put Hema's phone on surveillance and found her last location to be within 50 meters of the Badpura house. When we inquired, we learnt about the suicide. It seemed suspicious, so we probed further," a senior officer told The Times Of India.
Uttar Pradesh's crime rate!
As per the official statistics revealed in August by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Uttar Pradesh reported a fall in serious crimes, such as murder and rape in 2021. As per the report, the state is ranked 24th in murder cases among 28 states and eight union territories. The state recorded 3,717 reported cases last year.
