GURUGRAM: In a horrific crime that came to light on Wednesday, a man allegedly abducted his partner and her two children from her first marriage, took them to Meerut in UP and threw them into the Upper Ganga canal with the help of some relatives. While the woman was rescued by passersby, the bodies of the children — a six-year-old girl and an 18-month-old boy — were recovered after four days.
The main accused, 28-year-old Sonu Yadav alias Bholu, worked as a pizza delivery boy in Gurugram. His three relatives who acted as accomplices, including his 55-year-old mother Ravita, Pradeep alias Gollu (33) and Sachin (22), were arrested by Gurugram police on Wednesday. While the first three are residents of Bhangrola village, Sachin is from Baghpat in UP.
Police said the complainant, Sayra alias Rajni (39), had got married to a man named Sheikh Ali about eight years ago. The couple had a daughter, Tohida Khatun. When Sheikh Ali died in an accident in 2019, Sayra was expecting her second child. She was then introduced to Sonu by one Mahesh from Garhi Harsaru. “I started living with Sonu when I was three months pregnant. I later delivered a boy and we named him Ankur,” Sayra said in her complaint. Police were unclear if the couple got married.
According to Sayra, Sonu and his mother Ravita were not happy when the boy was born and started creating trouble. “I was harassed and repeatedly beaten up. They did not take proper care of my children,” she said in her complaint.
On February 27, Sayra alleged that she was thrashed by Sonu and Ravita after an argument. The duo, she added, took the help of one of their relatives, Sachin, to force her and the children inside a car around 11pm. While Ravita stayed back, the others left Gurugram for Meerut via KMP Expressway. Police said Sonu and Sachin took Sayra and the children to Jani area near the Meerut-Baghpat border, where another relative, Pradeep, joined them. They first pushed Sayra into the Upper Ganga canal, walked some distance and then threw the children too, police added.
Sayra was rescued by some unknown persons and came back to Gurugram on March 2. When she could not find her children, she approached police and filed a case at the Kherki Daula police station. On the basis of her complaint, an FIR was registered on Tuesday under IPC sections 364 (kidnapping) and 34 (common intention).
On Wednesday, police arrested Sonu from Gurugram and took him to Meerut. Keshav Kumar, SP (rural) Meerut, said, “Gurugram police brought Sonu to Meerut who showed them the spot where he had thrown the kids in the Upper Ganga canal. Divers were deployed and the girl’s body was fished out from Jani area in Meerut while the baby boy’s body was recovered from Modinagar area in Ghaziabad.”
Later in the evening, the other three accused were also arrested and sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 201 (destroying evidence) of the IPC were added to the FIR.
DCP (Manesar) Varun Singla told TOI that the accused told police that he was not able to bear the cost of the children and this would often lead to arguments and fights between the couple.