Azamgarh murder case: Family members narrate their side of story

Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) [India], November 21 : In the horrific murder case which was reported in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh, a woman was allegedly killed and chopped into pieces by her ex-boyfriend.
The deceased girl was identified as Aradhana Prajapati, while the accused was identified as Prince Yadav, according to the police.
The accused had chopped the body of the deceased while also beheading her.
The family of the deceased confirmed that the recovered pieces of clothes and other materials belonged to Aradhana.
Brother of the deceased, Sunil Prajapati said that his sister used to go out for two-three days earlier, however, they filed a police complaint when she did not return for nearly a week.
"She used to go earlier for two-three days. But she used to return. But this time, nearly a week had passed, she did not return. After that, the police were informed. The skull which has been recovered is my sister's. Her clothes and slippers were also recovered," he said.
Aradhana's father, Kedar Prajapati, said, "Prince Yadav had called her up and told her to come with her at 12 pm. He made her sit in his vehicle and took her away."
According to the Azamgarh Police, they recovered the body of the deceased who was identified as Aradhana Prajapati, from Paschim Patti village under the Ahraula police station of Azamgarh district, while the main accused in the case, identified as Prince Yadav, has been arrested.
As per the police statement, the disposed off body parts of the deceased have been recovered from two different locations, with the skull having been found in a pond, which is at a distance of 6 km from the well where the rest of the chopped body parts were recovered from.
The alleged murder took place on November 10, while the body of the deceased was found in a well on November 15.
According to the police statement, the family of the deceased woman had filed a missing person's report which said that she was missing since November 10. On November 15, the local police found the body parts of a woman in a well with the head missing.
According to the police statement, when approached by the police, the family partially confirmed the identity of the deceased, however, due to the skull missing, they were not convinced.
Following this, on November 19, the police detained one Prince Yadav, who was found to be the ex-boyfriend of the deceased girl, said the police.
As per the police, after questioning, Prince confessed to his involvement in the crime. The police then took Prince to the crime spot and it was at his identification that the police were able to recover the head of the deceased woman from a pond some six kilometres away from the well, as per the police statement.
According to the police, Prince was arrested on Sunday following an encounter, when he tried to escape from the spot where the police had taken him to recover the missing head of the woman. Another accused in the incident, Sarvesh Yadav, who is Prince's cousin, is absconding, as per the police.
A total of nine people have been involved in the crime, either in the execution of the plot to kill the woman or harbouring the culprits, according to the police.
Speaking to ANI, Anurag Arya, Superintendent of Police, Azamgarh said, "A dead body of an unidentified woman was found in a well on November 16. The head was missing and the rest of the body parts were missing. It was a challenge for the police, it was a crime related to the women. 5 police teams were on the job to work out the case. The accused has been arrested today. The prime accused in the case, Prince Yadav was arrested today after a police encounter. He sustained a bullet injury in his right leg. Illegal arms have been recovered from him."
The official said that the accused had a relationship with the deceased two years ago. The woman was married in February this year when Prince was outside the country. Upon knowing about the marriage, the accused returned to the country and plotted to kill the woman.
"After the interrogation, it came to the fore that he had a relationship with the deceased two years ago. The deceased was married this year in February. He was outside the country then. When he came to know about her marriage, he was offended and returned to India. He attempted to threaten the deceased to break her marriage and also lured her to stay with him. He was aided by his relatives which include his maternal side and also his parents. When the woman did not agree, he along with his parents and cousin named Sarvesh hatched a plan to kill her and dump her body in such a way that it could not be recovered and he could not be caught," the police official said.
Detailing the plot, the SP said that Prince had taken her out in the name of visiting a temple and strangled her to death in a sugarcane field.
"He called the woman on November 10, and roamed with her in the name of visiting a temple, and took her to the field of his maternal side and strangled her to death. To dispose of the body, he along with Sarvesh Yadav chopped it by keeping it on a wooden log. He threw the rest of the parts into the well, and threw the head in a pond along with her clothes," he said.
Arya said that the recovery of the deceased's clothes and other pieces of evidence has been accomplished.
"Based on the interrogation, the police have recovered everything. The clothes of the deceased have also been recovered. The wooden log on which the incident took place has been recovered. Evidence collection has been done from the field. There are a total of nine accused, of which one Prince Yadav has been arrested. The other accused Sarvesh Yadav, who is Prince's uncle's son is absconding. An award of Rs 25,000 has also been announced," he said.
The other accused in the incident will be arrested soon, the official said.
"There are 7 others who were involved either in the planning of the incident or in harbouring the culprits. They will be arrested soon," he said.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.