A 16-year-old girl was murdered by her mother’s lover in Punjab’s Nawanshahr, after which the accused stuffed her body into a suitcase and allegedly attempted to burn it in a forest, police said on Saturday.
The teenager had been reported missing, following which her mother lodged a complaint with the police. She also submitted a CCTV clip purportedly showing the girl leaving home.
However, during the investigation, police found that the footage was actually of another girl, raising suspicion. Officials then scanned CCTV footage from nearby areas and spotted the accused, Gurvinder Singh, travelling on a bike with a suitcase strapped to it.
Twenty-four-year-old Singh had accompanied the victim’s mother, Usha, to the police station to file the missing person complaint.
Police subsequently detained and questioned Singh, during which he allegedly confessed to killing the teenager at her home and disposing of the body in a forest area in neighbouring Hoshiarpur district.
Investigators later recovered a partially burnt body from the forest.
According to police, the victim had reportedly opposed her mother’s relationship with the accused. Nursing a grudge over this, Singh allegedly strangled the girl to death on May 29 while she was alone at home.
After the murder, the accused allegedly packed the body into a suitcase, transported it on a motorcycle and attempted to burn it in the forest to destroy evidence.
Singh has been arrested and remanded to four days in police custody as the investigation continues.
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