The story has made ripples in Kushinagar and Lucknow. What set the investigation in motion was a call from some station staff at Gomti Nagar in Lucknow on 17 May. They had come across a strange trunk and a bag in coach S-1 of the 15114 Chhapra-Gomti Nagar Express.
Evidence recovery and alleged disposal method
When they looked inside, the Government Railway Police found the girl’s torso in the trunk. Her limbs were in polythene bags of their own. It was done with care, they say, to make sure no blood showed on the outside.
It didn’t take long for officers to make a connection to a head that had been pulled from a pond in the Kushinagar district. That’s how they put a name to the remains: Shaba.
Arrests and alleged motive
Those held for the crime are Biggan Ansari of Kushinagar, as well as his sister Noorjahan and brother-in-law Mojibulla. In the course of questioning, Ansari let it all out. He said he was put off by the idea of his daughter talking to a man of another community. With two of his older daughters having already made love matches with men from different backgrounds, he wasn’t about to let it happen again.
Key developments highlighted by police so far:
– Three arrests have been made
– Around 800 CCTV footages examined
– Box tracked to Tamkuhi Road station
– Torso found on 17 May in S-1 coach
– Head recovered from a pond
Police say the trouble started with an assault on the girl. When she tried to end her life, he and his relatives hatched a plan to finish the job. Before he did, he made sure his wife and sons were out of the house.
How investigators tracked the suspects
Rohit Mishra, the Superintendent of Police (Railways), put together three teams to get to the bottom of it. They went through some 800 hours of CCTV from stations along the line. At Tamkuhi Road in Kushinagar, the video was telling: you can see a man and a woman with a box, putting it in a sleeper and then getting off in a different car.
Ansari is said to have put his hand on a new, sharp tool for the purpose and used his e-rickshaw to haul the parts to the station. A combined team from the GRP and local police have since fished the weapon out of a pond, per his word.
What comes next
Before this, Ansari had some time working overseas but has been back in the village for five years or so, plying an e-rickshaw. For now, the three are in lock-up while the probe goes on. The police are sifting through the forensics and the footage to tie everything down. There’s no sign of any other suspects in the offing; they’ll just follow the process as they put the evidence in order.
