Murder ‘accused’ jailed two months before police admit mistake

GHAZIABAD - A 30-year-old man in Ghaziabad was lodged in jail since two months on charges of murder, before police admitted he was not involved in the crime.

Israr Chaudhary, a resident of Masuri area, was arrested in connection with the murder of a 3-year-old girl Manyata Mukherjee and her maternal grandmother Sangeeta Mukheree July 14 in Vijay Nagar.

Police had earlier claimed that Israr had confessed killing the two as he was in a relationship with Manyata’s mother Divyanshi, which was unacceptable to her mother Sangeeta.

The police Tuesday said that Israr was not the accused and that the murder was committed by another man, Rakesh, a resident of Meerut, who was apparently in love with Divyanshi.

“We found that the murder was committed by Rakesh and that Israr had nothing to do with it,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Raghubir Lal.

“Israr was a frequent visitor to Divyanshi’s house and he was in some kind of relationship with her. On the day of the murder, he was missing from his house. Even Divyanshi had named Israr in the FIR for the murder of her daughter and mother. All these factors led us to believe that Israr was the accused,” he clarified.

However, Rakesh disclosed during the interrogation that he was in love with Divyanshi and wanted to marry her but this was not acceptable to her mother.

On July 14, when Rakesh went to her house in Vijay Nagar, Divyanshi was not at home. When he objected to her being out late night, Sangeeta said it was none of his business.

In a fit of rage, Rakesh strangulated Sangeeta and Manyata, police said.