Hardoi woman finds ‘missing’ husband 8 years later — in Instagram reel with his ‘second wife’

According to police, they came across information on social media suggesting that a man reported missing years ago had been seen by his wife in a video with another woman. Acting on this input, the police began an inquiry into the matter. They traced Jitendra and took him into custody.

Police said his wife has filed a complaint, and a case has been registered against Jitendra under Section 82(1) (bigamy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Sandila police station.

“During the inquiry, it was found that Jitendra had married another woman in Ludhiana. He has been taken into custody,” said Santosh Kumar Singh, Circle Officer, Hardoi.

Police said their investigation revealed that the complainant had married Jitendra, who was also from Hardoi, in 2017. The couple had a son the following year.

However, in April 2018, Jitendra suddenly disappeared. His family searched extensively for him but couldn’t find him anywhere. Eventually, his father filed a missing person’s complaint at the Sandila police station.

Despite repeated efforts over the years, Jitendra’s whereabouts remained unknown — until now.

Police said they recorded his wife’s statement. According to police, she said she recently came across a reel on social media — and was shocked to recognise her missing husband in it.

Police said she began contacting people close to Jitendra and his family to verify whether it was indeed him. Police said that’s when she came to know that Jitendra had been living in Ludhiana for the past several years, working at a cloth factory, and had allegedly remarried.

When contacted by The Indian Express, the woman said she married Jitendra on April 28, 2017. A few months later, however, she alleged that he began physically assaulting her. So, she returned to her parents’ home in November 2017.

She eventually became pregnant. When she was four months into the pregnancy, she was told her husband had gone missing. Her in-laws claimed they did not know of his whereabouts.

“Time passed, but he never returned,” she said.

It was only a few weeks ago that she came across the video. She said she wanted to ascertain that it was her husband and went to her in-laws’ house. They suspected it was her husband, but claimed they had no other information. “I could not confirm whether Jitendra’s family knew about where he had been,” the woman said.

In the meantime, residents shared the information on social media, and it soon circulated in the district.
The woman added, “I don’t know why he left me during the pregnancy, when I needed him the most.”