Overturned vehicle, bullet to the head: Who killed Jhansi’s first woman auto driver?
As police probed the case, it emerged that Anita Chaudhary had reportedly been seeing a man but cut ties with him four months ago. The partner is in the wind
3 min readLucknowUpdated: Jan 7, 2026 06:33 PM IST
Police said Anita Chaudhary (45) was found dead under her overturned auto-rickshaw in the Navabad police station area. (Express Photo, enhanced with Google Gemini)
In the early hours of Monday, police in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi received a PCR call. An auto-rickshaw had overturned and a woman was lying beneath it.
A police team rushed to the spot and found the woman, motionless and bleeding from her head. At first, police assumed she had died in an accident. It was only when the autopsy report came out that the truth emerged — she had been shot dead.
And when they identified the victim, they were in for a bigger shock. She was Anita Chaudhary (45), the first woman auto-rickshaw driver of Jhansi. In December 2021, she had even been felicitated by the UP Police.
As they probed the case, it emerged that she had reportedly been seeing a man, Mukesh Jha (45), but cut ties with him four months ago. It was her refusal to continue the relationship, police suspect, that led to her death.
Police suspect it was Mukesh who orchestrated the killing. On Tuesday morning, police said they recovered his car near Barua Sagar dam in Jhansi. The same car was captured by CCTV cameras following Anita’s auto-rickshaw on Sunday night — hours before she was found dead, confirmed a police officer.
He has been named the main accused in the case but is yet to be arrested. Police said his son and brother-in-law, suspects in the murder case, were taken into custody for questioning on Mukesh’s whereabouts.
ADG Kanpur Zone, Alok Singh, told The Indian Express that the police control room received a call around 2.30 am on Monday about an overturned auto rickshaw and a woman lying under it beside a road in Civil Lines area.
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The police team rushed to the spot and took the woman to a hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. Initially, police said it appeared she died in a road accident — until the autopsy confirmed a gunshot injury to the head, ADG Singh said.
The woman was identified as Anita. Police said her husband lodged a complaint accusing Mukesh of allegedly killing her. A police team picked up his son and brother-in-law but Mukesh was not found at home and other possible hideouts. A reward of Rs 25,000 was declared for information leading to his arrest, the ADG informed.
According to the ADG, preliminary investigation revealed that Anita was in a relationship with Mukesh and issues between them led to her murder.
Police said Anita had filed a complaint a few months ago and an FIR was lodged against Mukesh accusing him of criminal intimidation and harassment. Since the charges carried a sentence of less than seven years in prison, police said he was not arrested at the time.
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SHO of Navabad police station, Ravi Srivastava, told The Indian Express that Anita had stopped interacting with Mukesh for the past over four months and snapped ties with him. However, Mukesh had repeatedly been forcing her to continue the relationship. The issue turning sour appears to be the motive behind the murder, he said.
SHO Srivastava said Anita happens to be the first woman in Jhansi city to take up auto-rickshaw driving as a profession and inspired other women to take it up to make a living.
Bhupendra Pandey is the Resident Editor of the Lucknow edition of The Indian Express. With decades of experience in the heart of Uttar Pradesh’s journalistic landscape, he oversees the bureau’s coverage of India’s most politically significant state. His expertise lies in navigating the complex intersections of state governance, legislative policy, and grassroots social movements. From tracking high-stakes assembly elections to analyzing administrative shifts in the Hindi heartland, Bhupendra’s reportage provides a definitive lens on the region's evolution.
Authoritativeness He leads a team of seasoned reporters and investigators, ensuring that The Indian Express’ signature "Journalism of Courage" is reflected in every regional story. His leadership is central to the Lucknow bureau’s reputation for breaking stories that hold the powerful to account, making him a trusted figure for policy analysts, political scholars, and the general public seeking to understand the nuances of UP’s complex landscape.
Trustworthiness & Accountability Under his stewardship, the Lucknow edition adheres to the strictest standards of factual verification and non-partisan reporting. He serves as a bridge between the local populace and the national discourse, ensuring that regional issues are elevated with accuracy and context. By prioritizing primary-source reporting and on-the-ground verification, he upholds the trust that readers have placed in the Express brand for nearly a century. ... Read More
