Police have cracked a gruesome murder case involving the killing of a 20-year-old woman, Akanksha, by her alleged boyfriend Suraj, who later stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it into the Yamuna river at Chilla Ghat, 95 km away in Banda district. Two suspects, including Suraj, have been arrested.
Akanksha, from the Sujanpur area under Rura police station, Kanpur Dehat, had been living independently in Hanumant Vihar for the past eight months, after befriending Suraj (an electrician at a local restaurant) on Instagram. Suraj had assisted her in finding jobs and helped arrange a rented room, enabling frequent visits.
According to police, on July 21, Akanksha discovered Suraj’s relationship with another woman and confronted him at the restaurant. Later that night, after returning home, the argument escalated. In a fit of rage, Suraj strangled Akanksha and contacted his friend Ashish from Fatehpur to help dispose of the body.
The two packed her body into a suitcase, traveled 95 km on a bike, and dumped it into the Yamuna at Chilla Ghat. Shockingly, before disposing of the suitcase, they took a selfie with it and posted it as a status on Suraj’s phone. The body has yet to be recovered.
Akanksha’s mother Vijayashree noticed her daughter’s phone was switched off from July 22. Despite approaching multiple police stations between July 24 and August 8, no action was initially taken. A missing person report was finally filed on August 8 at Hanumant Vihar police station.
On September 16, after weeks of misleading the family, Suraj was arrested based on call detail records and mobile location tracking. He confessed to the crime, claiming Akanksha had pressured him to marry her and threatened to make their private photos public or falsely accuse him of rape.
Police also revealed Suraj attempted to mislead investigators by switching off Akanksha’s phone and hiding it on a train bound for Bihar, hoping to confuse the mobile location trail.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Deependra Nath Chaudhary, both Suraj and Ashish were produced in court and remanded to jail. The investigation is ongoing, and efforts are being made to recover Akanksha’s body from the Yamuna.
