Kamal Ghorui
LUCKNOW: A 16-year-old girl was killed in Lucknow’s Para allegedly by two men and their associates. The key accused — Anshu Gautam (20) and Aashiq Yadav (21), and their associates Rishu Yadav (20) and Vaibhav Singh Rajput (23) — have been arrested.Police said the girl got in touch with Anshu and Aashiq (both friends) through social media and would talk to them over the phone for long hours. “Both Anshu and Aashiq believed the girl was in love with them. When they came to know that the girl was in talking to both, they took it as betrayal and decided to eliminate her,” a police officer said.“The duo, with the help of their associates, abducted the girl on Jan 13, strangulated her in an SUV, and dumped her body to make the murder appear suicide,” SHO Suresh Singh said. On Jan 16, the girl’s family filed a missing person’s complaint, and a case of kidnapping was registered, he said.“After the murder came to light, Sections 140(1) (kidnapping with intent to murder), 103(1) (murder), 238 (destroying evidence), and 3(5) (common intention) were added,” the SHO said.Based on phone records and CCTV camera footage, police arrested all the accused on Jan 26. The vehicle used for abduction was also seized.DCP, west zone, Vishwajeet Srivastava, said, “Anshu called the girl to meet him. When she reached the meeting point, he forced her to sit in an SUV in which three others, including Aashiq, were sitting. The trio killed the girl in the moving vehicle and put the body on railway tracks in Sarojininagar, 12km from the abduction spot.”
