The police said the head was found in a pond in Khushinar, and the torso was recovered on May 17 from the Chhapra-Gomti Nagar Express, after cleaning staff found a suspicious box inside the compartment.
Key Points
- A man was arrested for allegedly murdering and dismembering his daughter due to suspicions of an interfaith relationship.
- The victim's body was dismembered into six parts, with the head dumped in a pond and the torso found on a train.
- The father, along with his sister and brother-in-law, were all arrested in connection with the honour killing.
- The accused confessed to the crime, citing concerns about his daughter's relationship with a man from another community.
A man was arrested for allegedly killing his teen daughter, dismembering her body into six parts, and dumping her head in a pond in Lucknow and the other parts in a trunk on a train over a suspected interfaith relationship, officials said on Thursday.
The police said Kushinagar resident Biggan Ansari, with the help of his sister Noorjahan and brother-in-law Mojibulla Ansari -- all three arrested -- allegedly killed his 15-year-old daughter Shaba.
The police said the head was found in a pond in Khushinar, and the torso was recovered on May 17 from coach S-1 of train number 15114, the Chhapra-Gomti Nagar Express, after cleaning staff found a suspicious box and bag inside the compartment when the train reached Gomti Nagar station in Lucknow.
They said the victim's hands and legs were packed separately in polythene bags.
GRP officials said the accused packed the body carefully to prevent blood stains from becoming visible outside the trunk.
Earlier, superintendent of police (Railways) Rohit Mishra constituted three teams to identify the victim and trace the accused.
Investigators examined around 800 CCTV camera footages from stations along the train route and tracked suspicious movements at Tamkuhi Road railway station in Kushinagar district.
"CCTV footage showed two men and a woman carrying the box to the station before placing it inside a sleeper coach of the train and getting down from another compartment," Mishra told PTI.
During interrogation, Ansari, a resident of Jaipur Tola under the Sevarhi police station area, allegedly confessed to the crime.
The police said he suspected his daughter was speaking to a man from another community and feared she would also enter into a love marriage, as his two elder daughters had earlier married men of a different community.
According to the police, the accused first assaulted the girl. After she allegedly attempted suicide, Ansari conspired with his relatives to kill her.
The police said the accused sent his wife and sons away from home before murdering her.
The accused allegedly purchased a new sharp-edged weapon for the crime and later transported the body parts in his e-rickshaw to Tamkuhi Road railway station, from where the box was placed on the train, the police said.
A joint GRP team and local police later recovered the weapon used in the crime from a pond based on the accused's confession, the police said.
They said Ansari earlier worked abroad and returned to the village around five years ago, after which he started operating an e-rickshaw.
