india

Updated: Sep 20, 2019 04:34 IST

The police in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday found the body of a 22-year-old woman, five months after she disappeared, and arrested her uncle and another man on suspicion of murdering her. Rekha Yadav’s body was found buried in a dry waterbody in the jungle, the police said.

Thatiya village SHO Vijay Bahadur Verma said the woman was suspected to have been strangled to death by her uncle Awdhesh Yadav and another relative, identified as Girish, because she wanted to marry a person of her choice.

After killing her, they buried the body in a dried canal that recently filled up with rainwater and had to be drained to recover the body, Verma said.

The Allahabad high court asked the police to trace the woman after the man she wanted to marry, Amit Yadav, approached it in early August following her disappearance in May. According to locals, Rekha insisted on marrying Amit though her family had arranged her marriage with someone else. In April, she left her house with the intent of marrying him, but returned later .

The families of the two met at the police station but Rekha remained firm on marrying Amit. Her uncle assured the police that the two families would work out a solution.

“Rekha disappeared after that,” Amit said on Thursday, adding that he confronted her uncle in July about her whereabouts only to be accused him of kidnapping her instead. Police became active on the high court’s directive. Additional superintendent of police Vinod Kumar said many relatives were involved in the murder and would be charged with the crime.