A woman’s body was discovered stuffed in a suitcase near a bus stand in the northern Indian state of Haryana, prompting shock and outrage.
Police arrested a man on suspicion of murder two days after the body of Himani Narwal, 23, was found on the Rohtak-Delhi highway on 1 March.
“We have arrested one accused and further investigations are on," a police official said.
“The accused belonged to a village in Jhajjar district and was known to the deceased,” Hindustan Times quoting a senior police official as saying, referring to a region in Haryana.
“We will produce the man before the court and seek his remand to ascertain the reasons behind the gruesome murder. Prima facie it seems that some grudge took place between the accused and Himani.”
The suspect, identified only as Sachin, was detained in neighbouring Delhi and allegedly confessed to the crime, India Today reported.
The accused, married with two children, had been in contact with Narwal for more than a year, senior police officer Krishna Kumar Rao said at a press conference on Monday.
He allegedly visited the woman’s home in Rohtak on 27 February and stayed overnight.
The next day, they got into a heated argument during which he tied her up with a piece of cloth and strangled her to death with a mobile phone charging cable, Mr Rao said.
Sachin removed Narwal's jewellery and stuffed her body inside a suitcase he found in the house. Later that night, he took an autorickshaw to the Rohtak bus stand and boarded a bus to Sampla, where he disposed of the body, the police officer added.
According to India Today, the man was in a relationship with Narwal and accused her of blackmailing him. He was carrying Narwal’s cell phone when he was detained.
Rajneesh Kumar, a deputy superintendent of police leading the investigation, said the suitcase belonged to the victim’s family. “We are investigating all angles. We have found certain clues but cannot reveal them at this stage. We are also taking help from cyber and forensic experts, and examining CCTV camera footage,” Mr Kumar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Scratches and bite marks found on Sachin’s hands indicated that Narwal fought back, the Indian news agency ANI reported. Investigators were also checking whether he had pawned the jewellery as a receipt indicating such a transaction was found on him.
Narwal, a law student, had actively participated in opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo campaign and was widely recognised as a Congress party worker.
She was last seen on 27 February.
Her family, who live in Rohtak’s Vijay Nagar, refused to perform her last rites until the perpetrators were brought to justice. Her mother, Savita Rani, alleged foul play saying Narwal’s rapid rise in the Congress party could have made her enemies.
"It could be someone in the party who was jealous of her or someone else entirely," Ms Rani claimed.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, from the Congress party, demanded a fair investigation. "A culprit is a culprit, whether he is in the party or outside it. The law must take its course," Mr Hooda said.
Senior Haryana minister Anil Vij of the Bharatiya Janata Party described Ms Rani’s allegations about internal political rivalry as "serious" and assured that police were thoroughly investigating all possible motives.
Congress party lawmaker Deepender Hooda called for stringent action against the perpetrator. "We demand exemplary punishment for whoever is guilty in this case," he said.
The autopsy was conducted at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak, but the report was still to come.
