Man held for killing 19-year-old live-in partner

A man from Kalyan in the district has been arrested for allegedly strangulating his 19-year-old live-in partner to death and trying to burn her body, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Niraj Mourya (20), was arrested on Tuesday, police said.

Senior inspector Venkat Andhale of the crime branch of district police said that a half-burnt body of an unidentified woman was found earlier this month at Balyani in Kalyan.

Kalyan rural police had registered an offence under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) in that connection.

"The crime branch officials carried out an inquiry in the area to identify the victim. During the probe, local residents told them that they had not seen the woman living with the accused for the last few days," Andhale said.

Mourya was then taken into custody. During his interrogation, he told the police that he lived with the victim, Mohini Gupta, who was from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

"He told the police that there were differences between him and Gupta. Earlier this month, following a heated argument with the victim, Mourya strangulated her to death with his muffler. Later, he packed her body in a plastic bag and took it to an isolated place, where he set it on fire using petrol," the official said.

After his arrest on Tuesday, he was produced before a local court, which remanded him in police custody for a week.