‘We were planning her wedding’: Kin devastated after Delhi woman murdered, stuffed in suitcase

In the meantime, police found the body of a woman stuffed in a suitcase in UP’s Hapur near a canal on May 30. The body was decomposed.

“On May 30, we were alerted about a body stuffed inside a suitcase in the Sikhera area that comes under the Pilkhuwa police station. We first sent the body for a post-mortem, and an FIR was registered for murder and disappearance of evidence,” said an officer of the Hapur Police.

By then, through a missing person’s complaint filed in Delhi, police established the woman’s identity — it was Neelesh.

According to the post-mortem report, Neelesh was strangled to death, said Patniash Kumar, SHO, Pilkhuwa police station. “There were no signs of any assault on her body,” he said.

On June 6, Neelesh’s friend was arrested for allegedly killing her. The accused, Satendra Yadav (29), a resident of Delhi’s Vinod Nagar, worked with a real estate firm. Police claimed they recovered the woman’s bank passbook, Aadhaar card, two mobile phones, and a car from his possession.

Youngest among four siblings, Neelesh lived with her father in a rented one-room house in Trilokpuri, after her mother’s death nine years ago. All her brothers were married and lived in separate houses.

Pointing towards a black and white sketch of Neelesh and her father hanging on the green wall of her room, next to her parents’ picture, a family member recalled on Saturday, “The day she went missing, we got a call from her father. She had told him that she would return by 1 pm… but she hadn’t.”

“We rushed to Trilokpuri and first alerted the Mayur Vihar Phase 1 police station. We also went to check CCTV footage at the bank, but there was no sign of her. All we did then was pray.”

The family was preparing for Neelesh’s wedding. “We were excited about the preparations. On April 30, she was engaged to a man in UP’s Etah district. After her wedding, she wanted to have a beauty parlour of her own,” the relative added.

However, a call from Hapur Police on June 4 tragically ended the family’s wait.

The family was called to identify the body. “Her yellow suit and a Tulsi beads necklace helped us identify her,” another relative said.

Yadav got acquainted with Neelesh when they lived in the same locality, police said.

During questioning, Yadav allegedly told police that he had been in a relationship with Neelesh for over three years. “Neelesh had loaned Yadav Rs 5.25 lakh. She wanted the money back on May 28 when she met Yadav,” an officer said.

According to the police statement, Yadav claimed he lost his temper when she asked for the money and allegedly strangled her using her scarf. “He then stuffed her body into a suitcase, which he had in his room. Later that night, he drove to the Sikhera canal, a route he frequently used to avoid toll taxes, and dumped the suitcase. He bought the car with the money given by her,” a police officer said.

“Her father, Abhibharan Singh, is a retired Nagar Nigam employee. Neelesh had allegedly given his savings to Yadav. On the day she was killed, he had asked her to give Rs 1 lakh for an emergency,” said the SHO.

Police traced Yadav after his car’s number plate was captured in CCTV footage. During questioning, Yadav allegedly told police he suspected her of cheating on him with another man.

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