A woman from Turkmenistan, living under a false identity in India, was allegedly killed in a town of Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut last month by a group of men who also burnt her face with acid to destroy evidence.
Sharing disturbing details of the alleged crime, police said the woman – identified Muhabbat from Turkmenistan – had been staying in India using an Aadhaar card in the name of Archita Arora.
Her mother, Nazhmudinova Gulnara, recognised her earrings during a video call and confirmed her identity, HT reported earlier.
Police have arrested four men – Chanchal Kumar alias Bunty; Gurumukh alias Arvind, Sandeep alias Sittu and Vivek alias Kaka – in connection with the case.
Disturbing details
Police said Muhabbat’s body was recovered near Bhagwati Farm House, close to the Mawana Khurd police outpost on February 21 and that a dispute over money at a hotel allegedly led to the crime.
According to the, the four accused were drinking with the victim at a hotel when a dispute over money broke out. During the argument, the woman allegedly threatened to implicate them in a rape case. The accused then allegedly assaulted her and smothered her with a blanket.
The accused poured acid on her face and burned her hands to conceal her identity and tattoos, the earlier HT report quoted as saying Rural superintendent of police Abhijeet Kumar. They later transported the body in a car, poured acid on her face and dumped it in Mawana. Police recovered the vehicle, an empty acid bottle and the blanket.
An FIR was registered and a detailed probe launched.
Investigators examined nearly 500 CCTV clips and traced a suspicious car to Chanchal Kumar, who runs Avika Hotel in Partapur. During questioning, he allegedly confessed and named three accomplices.
Twist after police says cracked case
Five days after the body was found, police held a press conference in Meerut claiming they had “cracked” the case and arrested four accused. The case took a turn after victim’s mother Gulnara contacted police via a video call and claimed that the victim was actually her daughter, Muhabbat.
A police officer, privy to the case said, “Muhabbat made her last phone call to an Uzbek woman, Aziza Fayzullaevna Kilicheva, 49, according to a Times of India report.
“We shared a photo of the body with Aziza, which she forwarded to the victim’s mother in Turkmenistan. The mother then identified the body of Muhabbat based on the latter’s clothes and earrings,” the officer was quoted as saying
The claim was reportedly supported by another document found during the probe – a Turkmenistan passport that had expired in 2019 and issued to Muhabbat in 2009. Police suspect that the woman could have been overstaying in India and had procured an Aadhaar card with a fake identity.
All four accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Police said further investigation is underway, including how the victim was living under a forged identity in India.
