Man who killed his teenaged lover held from Rajasthan

AHMEDABAD: City police arrested a 20-year-old man, Govind Bhagora, from Bhilal village of Nagaur district in Rajasthan for allegedly killing his 19-year-old live-in partner on May 2, for allegedly cheating on him.
An Isanpur police team arrested Bhagora from his paternal aunt’s home in Bhilal late on Monday night. He was brought to the city on Tuesday.

“Our team arrested Bhagora from Bhilal just two days after the incident. On May 2, Bhagora allegedly killed his live-in partner, Rupa, after he heard her talking to another man. When Bhagora asked her about the man, she told him he was another boyfriend of hers. On hearing this, Bhagora threatened her to kill. She apparently told him that she would get a boyfriend of hers to kill him. Bhagora then got enraged and strangled Rupa to death. Fearing arrest, he poured kerosene on her, especially her face, and set body ablaze to destroy the evidence,” said N M Patel, inspector of Isanpur police station.

Bhagora and Rupa had moved to the Isanpur area of the city just a week ago from their native village in Banswada district of Rajasthan. Bhagora was a daily wage labourer and Rupa stayed at home in Isanpur.

Police registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC, as Bhagora allegedly burned Rupa’s face so that she would not be identified. He intended to flee while the cops were trying to ascertain her identity, said a police official.

Isanpur police paraded accused ‘to set an example’

After nabbing Bhagora from Rajasthan, Isanpur police paraded him in a procession through the area. Patel bragged about his vigilante actions, saying, “We took out a procession of Bhagora through the area so an example is set that no one can kill a person, especially a girl, like this. We want people to see this dangerous accused. This was a heinous crime as the man burnt the face and body of the girl who he loved at one point of time.”

Bank passbook provided a clue

Rupa’s body was charred and there was no belongings were found that could hint at her identity, except a passbook lying at the scene of the crime. The passbook was for an account at the Shreenathji branch of a private bank and bore Bhagora’s name. A team of cops then went to Rajasthan while another team stayed in Isanpur to identify the killer.

Police then approached the bank and got Bhagora’s father’s address and his mobile phone number. They knew that Bhagora was first at Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh but moved to his aunt’s place in Nagaur as he was running out of money. Police arrested him from his aunt’s home.

Couple was separated by village panchayat

Sources said that while Rupa and Bhagora came from the same community, but belonged to the same gotra. A village panchayat one year ago had passed a diktat, that a man and woman of the same gotra couldn’t get married. After this, Bhagora eloped with Rupa and the couple moved to Ahmedabad.