Nagpur: The body of an aspiring model from Nagpur was found with her head and face smashed at Chatrapur around 50km from the city on national highway 47 between Pandhurna and Nagpur, on Saturday morning.

The victim, Khushi Parihar, who was in her 20s, had participated in several fashion shows in the city.

Kelvad police have registered a case of murder and have launched a probe. Khushi’s boyfriend Ashraf Sheikh, son of an alleged drug peddler from Gittikhadan, has been rounded up by police in the matter. Cops said offence of murder and destroying evidence has been registered in the case and Ashraf is likely to be arrested.

According to police, Ashraf might have murdered Khushi following a quarrel over her friendship with other men.

A passer-by spotted the body allegedly dumped in a pit. Kelvad police and their Local Crime Branch (LCB) counterparts rushed to the spot after getting information.

Looking at the trendy outfit on the body, cops suspected that the deceased was from an urban area. Soon, police started checking missing reports at nearby police stations.

The body had three tattoos. The first tattoo was of ‘Khushi’ written on the back, while a picture of crown with ‘queen’ written was found on her chest. The third tattoo — ‘Ashu’ — was spotted on one hand.

The tattoos acted as vital clue for cops to ascertain identify of the victim. One of the informants told cops that the body could be of an aspiring model, Khushi Parihar. Cops also searched her social media accounts and ascertained her identity from the tattoos.

When cops spotted Ashraf in Khushi’s photographs, they started looking for him. Ashraf was soon rounded up by Kelvad police with the help of their Gittikhadan counterparts.

It is learnt, Ashraf tried to mislead cops by claiming that Khushi had last met him at 9pm on Friday. However, when cops checked the location of their mobiles, it came to fore that they were together till late in the night on Friday.

During questioning, Ashraf allegedly confessed that he and Khushi had gone to a dhaba at Kalamna where they had drinks and food. From there they went towards Pandhurna where the duo had a quarrel over Khushi’s friendship with other men, leading to the alleged murder.

Ashraf is also learnt to have told cops that they were supposed to get married in the coming 10 days. Ashraf had also recently taken a flat in Gittikhadan on rent where Khushi used to live. He had also given her a mobile and a car.

Cops are also probing other angles in the case.

