In what appears like a case of love jihad, a Delhi based carpenter identified as Intezar has been arrested by Delhi police for allegedly killing his live-in partner in Northeast Delhi’s Usmanpur. The man was caught when he was trying to bury the woman’s body in his village Khatriyan in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. He had hired a car and had taken the woman’s body to his village to bury it there. However, he was spotted by some local residents who informed the police. The UP Police took the woman’s body in custody and interrogated the man. He confessed to having killed the woman after which he was handed over to the Delhi police.

“We sent a team to Bijnor on Thursday and the accused was brought to Delhi on Saturday,” said Deputy commissioner of police (northeast), Atul Thakur.

According to a police officer, the man had first tried to dump the body in a drain but could not do so because of the security arrangements due to Republic Day. “He then wrapped her body in a cloth and planned to dispose it off by dumping it in a drain. However, seeing heavy security deployment in the capital because of Republic Day, he could not execute the plan,” said a police officer who did not want to be identified.

Intezar had come in contact with his live-in partner Nidhi alias Ikra on Facebook last year after which they had started meeting. Nidhi was married to a Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Mishra and had two children with him. She left her husband in July last year and started living with Intezar in Jaffrabad area of Delhi. She even converted to Islam and changed her name to Ikra. Her husband had filed a missing complaint after she fled from her husband’s home.

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According to the police, the carpenter was already married and had a three-year-old daughter but he had been living away from his family. There were constant fights between Intezar’s wife and his live-in partner Nidhi over the staying of the live-in partner with Intezar. In one such argument between his wife and Nidhi, he had supported his wife. Nidhi also pressurising him for marriage, which had increased differences between the two. On January 22, he had a heated argument with her which later turned ugly and he strangled her to death.

Initially Intezar as changing statements about the death of Nidhi. “Intezar told his family members that Nidhi died of cardiac arrest. But, he was changing his statements. Later, he told us that she had committed suicide. All preparations for burial were made. We then took the body to district hospital for postmortem”, told Bijnor SHO Bijendra Rana.

The woman’s body has been handed over to her husband.