In a chilling crime that has sent shockwaves across two states, Haryana Police have arrested a 28-year-old taxi driver from Uttar Pradesh for the alleged murder and beheading of his 33-year-old live-in partner. The victim's headless body was discovered in the dense Kalesar forest of Yamuna Nagar district a week prior to the arrest.
A Grisly Discovery and a Motive of Marriage Pressure
According to senior police officials, the primary motive behind the brutal killing was the woman's persistent pressure on the accused to legally marry her. The victim, identified as Uma Singh, a resident of Ramzanpura, had been in a relationship with the accused, Mohd Bilal from Tidoli village in Saharanpur, for nearly two years. The couple lived together in a rented room in Saharanpur's Defence Colony, presenting themselves to neighbours as husband and wife.
The sequence of events turned fatal on the night of December 6. Police allege that Bilal took Uma to a secluded spot near the Lal Dhang Gorge in Haryana. There, he reportedly strangled her to death using a car seatbelt. In a gruesome attempt to conceal her identity, he then severed her head. The headless body was dumped near the Bahadura poplar tree nursery, while the head and her clothes were disposed of separately deep within the forest.
The Investigation: From an Unidentified Body to a Shocking Arrest
The discovery of the headless body on December 7 presented a major challenge for the Yamuna Nagar police. Superintendent of Police Kamaldeep Goyal stated that the biggest hurdle was establishing the victim's identity. "There was a clear attempt to erase her identity by beheading the body and abandoning it in a jungle after removing her clothes," the SP explained.
Police launched a widespread search, circulating details of the case across Haryana and border districts of neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. However, no matching missing person report was filed. The breakthrough came through technical surveillance and CCTV analysis. Investigators traced Bilal's Uttar Pradesh-registered car via footage at the Hathnikund barrage and corroborated it with mobile phone location data.
Bilal was subsequently arrested from his Saharanpur home on Saturday night. The arrest came just a day before he was scheduled to marry another woman. An FIR has been registered against him under BNS sections 103 (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).
Revelations from Families and Ongoing Search
Following his arrest, Bilal led police to the spot where he claimed to have disposed of the severed head, but the body part could not be recovered. "Efforts to trace the body part and the clothes are ongoing," added SP Goyal.
The investigation revealed that Uma Singh had separated from her disabled husband, a painter named Johny Singh, due to frequent disputes. "We married 15 years ago and have a 13-year-old son who lives with me. She divorced me two years ago and would visit occasionally to meet our son. I had no idea who she was living with," Johny Singh stated on Monday.
Meanwhile, Bilal's family expressed utter shock, claiming they were completely unaware of his relationship with Uma. A relative said, "We never knew he was involved in a relationship with a married woman. This has come as a complete shock to us." The case highlights a tragic tale of a live-in relationship that ended in horrific violence, leaving two families devastated and a community in disbelief.
