Police find ‘murdered’ woman alive

The court then ordered a DNA test. The police collected blood samples of Santosh,her children and Virendra and sent them to an Ahmedabad lab.

“We submitted the lab report in a sealed cover in the court on Wednesday. The report was opened by the court. It supported our claim that the woman is indeed Santosh,” said Bulandshahr SSP R K S Rathore.

The court has fixed April 28 for the next hearing.

A resident of Bulandshahr’s Khurja Nagar,Santosh went missing in 2005. Her husband Bhanu Pratap,a PWD employee,filed a kidnapping case against four neighbours.

Around 20 days later,the police found the decomposed body of a woman near an open drain under Arania police circle in Bulandshahr. Bhanu Pratap and his son Kuldeep Singh,then 17 years old,identified the body as Santosh’s. A few locals backed the claim. The doctors who conducted the postmortem failed to find any clues as to the body’s identity and recommended a DNA test,which was not done.

Later,Bhanu Pratap filed an affidavit in court stating that he had witnessed the murder and seen the accused throwing the body in the drain.

“He named 10 neighbours for the crime. He stated in his affidavit that the accused kidnapped his wife,raped her and then killed her,” said sub-inspector Raj Pal Singh,who is investigating the case.

The police arrested the 10 and sent them to jail. Except Om Veer Singh,who was the prime accused,the others got bail. Om Veer’s bail application was rejected by the Allahabad High Court.

In January this year,the police found that Santosh was staying with one Charan Singh Yadav in Hakimpur Nai Basti in Bulandshahr. They were also told that she had married Yadav. On January 27,the police produced Santosh before the court.

However,Bhanu Pratap,his children and Virendra refused to identity Santosh,who told the court that she left home following harassment by her husband. She also said she was not aware that 10 persons had been booked for her “murder”. The court then ordered the DNA tests.

“During investigation,it was found that Bhanu Pratap habitually filed false cases. In 2003,he filed an FIR against six neighbours for raping his wife. In court,Santosh denied the charge and the accused were acquitted. An irked Bhanu started harassing and beating her. This prompted Santosh to leave the house and Bhanu Pratap to lodge a fresh case of kidnapping and murder against the neighbours who had been acquitted in the rape case. After Santosh was found,Bhanu Pratap feared the court might take action against him for filing a false case and,therefore,refused to identity her. The children and Santosh’s brother are under his influence,” said the IO.