Unnao woman ‘murdered’ two years ago found in Maharashtra

LUCKNOW: A woman, presumed to be murdered two years ago, was found to be alive and traced in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra by Unnao police even as the accused continues to be languishing in jail for 14 months for a crime that never took place.
The revelation occurred when the ATM card of a bank account in the woman’s name in Mumbai reached her permanent address in Unnao in September this year.
Explaining the sequence of events, superintendent of police, Unnao, Anand Kulkarni told TOI that it all began in March 2018 when Yogendra Kumar of Unnao lodged a complaint alleging that one Pramod Verma had abducted his wife Shraddha Gupta (21).
“On April 2, 2018, the charred body of a woman was found in Jurakhan Khera area of Unnao. On the basis of the belongings recovered from the spot, Yogendra identified the body as that of Shraddha. Pramod was immediately arrested and sent to jail,” Kulkarni said.
However, the case took a curious turn in September this year when an ATM card of a bank account opened in Shradhha’s name reached her original address on the basis of her Aadhaar card details.
“The details were checked and it was found that the account was being operated by Shraddha. Later, a test was conducted in which it was found that the DNA of the body found in 2018 did not match with Shraddha’s daughter and other relatives,” the SP said.
During reinvestigation, she was traced in Maharashtra. Shraddha told cops that when she was just one-year old, her parents had given her custody to a childless government teacher who lived in their neighbourhood in Unnao. “Later, her real parents shifted to Rae Bareli. The teacher raised Shraddha and married her off to Kumar. The couple had a daughter but Shraddha was not happy with her marriage and left home on the pretext of appearing for an examination,” the SP said. She took a train to Pune where a woman, Shabana, helped her get a job in Ahmednagar.
Cops said they would move the court to ensure the release of Pramod. Repeated attempts to contact Shraddha failed.