Maharashtra: Married man kills girlfriend after she insists on marriage

Sep 13, 2023

Palghar (Maharashtra) [India], September 13 : A 43-year-old married man from Palghar in Maharashtra allegedly killed his girlfriend by drowning her in a tub of water, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Manohan Ravi Shankar Shukla, a resident of Vasai, has been arrested.
Following the murder, the accused stuffed the body of the woman in a suitcase and threw it in the Pardi area of Gujarat, as per police.
The deceased identified as Nayana Mahat (28), had previously filed a case of rape against the Shukla at Waliv and Virar police stations.
"The accused threatened and pressured the woman to withdraw the case. When the woman refused, the man killed her by drowning in a tub of water," police said.
The incident took place under the ambit of Naigaon police station in Palghar district.
The deceased worked as a hairdresser in the film industry, police said adding that she had been in a relationship with Shukla for five years.
The deceased used to live alone in Sunteck Tower in Naigaon. Her elder sister, who also worked in films, lives in Oswal Nagari of Nalasopara in Palghar district.
After Nayana came to know that Manohar was married she filed a case of rape against him, police said.
On August 9 on finding Nayana's phone switched off, her sister inquired with relatives but could not reach her and subsequently on August 14 she filed a missing persons complaint at the Naigaon police station. Following this police has filed a case and begun an investigation.
Police scanned the CCTV footage of the building where the deceased lived. "She was seen with a man in the footage".
"The elder sister of the deceased told police that the man in the footage was her sister’s friend and both were about to get married. The accused was called for questioning. But he initially tried to mislead the investigators," police said.
"During the investigation, police collected evidence against the accused. He was again called for questioning. This time the accused confessed to the crime. The accused told police that after killing the woman, he packed her body in a bag and threw it in Gujarat".
The accused told the police that Nayana was putting pressure on him to leave his wife and children and get married to her, as per police.
"Upset with this, the accused took this extreme step," police said.
A case has been registered against the accused under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code police said.