Twist in 2019 murder: Prime suspect’s rotting body found

LUCKNOW: The March 2019 murder of a woman, whose dismembered body was recovered from different parts of the city, has taken a curious turn with the decomposed body of the prime suspect, her estranged husband, being found floating in the Gomti in January this year.
While a close relative has been able to identify the rotting corpse as that of 32-year-old Sunil Kanaujia from a metal bracelet, police have sought DNA analysis for a confirmed match.
The chopped body of Sunil’s wife, Bharti Pandey (30), was found in two bags 7km apart in Krishnanagar and Para on March 23 and 24, respectively.
Sunil went missing since then. “Last month, we fished out a decomposed body from the Gomti river. Sunil’s brother Anil came to Para police station recently and positive ID’d the body from a metal bracelet on the right hand. We have taken Anil’s blood and samples from the body for DNA analysis,” said Para SHO Triloki Singh.
After Bharti’s body parts were found in a red bag in Krishnanagar, police scanned CCTV camera footage procured from nearby houses and caught a man in the act. His physical features seemed to match with the description of Sunil, an aluminium factory worker in Alambagh.
Inquiries gave a motive to the case. Bharti, who worked at a noodles unit, was allegedly having an extramarital affair with colleague Ashish. Police also found a bloodstained bed linen and sharp-edged tools at Sunil’s house in Para, where the couple lived on rent for a year. Cops concluded that Sunil was the prime suspect, but had no way of confirming it because both he and Ashish went missing.
“Sunil was a native of Malda, Bengal, and married Bharti against the wishes of his parents in 2018. Bharti, originally from Asansol in Bengal, had married twice before. In fact, she came to Lucknow in 2016 with her second husband, but left him to marry Sunil,” SHO Singh said.
The officer maintained that autopsy of the body found in Gomti could not ascertain the exact cause of death because of its decomposed state. “The body has now been sent to a forensic lab for analysis. It will help us determine if the man was killed or he committed suicide,” the SHO added.