The Madhya Pradesh police on Saturday arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly killed his girlfriend and then posted a video with her body on social media earlier in the month, officers familiar with the matter said.
Police identified the accused as Hemant Rajendra Badane, a resident of MaharashtraтАЩs Nasik, and said he was wanted in 37 cases of cheating and theft. Police tracked his cash withdrawals from ATMs and arrested him from RajasthanтАЩs Ajmer, officers said.
тАЬWe were clueless about his real name and identity. We used fingerprints taken from the crime scene, and used National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) to trace him. The fingerprints matched with an accused in a property offence of 2014 that took place in Nasik. His photograph was matched and his identity was revealed. Later, we started tracing him,тАЭ said Jabalpur additional director general of police, Umesh Joga.
тАЬHe was continuously changing his location for the past 10 days. On Thursday, he withdrew тВ╣20,000 from an ATM in Ajmer. He was arrested with the help of Rajasthan police on Friday and brought to Jabalpur on Saturday, тАЭ Joga said.
According to the police, Shilpa Jharia (22), a resident of the Kundam area of Jabalpur district, was found dead inside a resortтАЩs room in Madhya PradeshтАЩs Jabalpur district on November 8. The accused, who identified himself as Abhijeet Patidar ( a fictitious name), posted a video in which he is seen saying тАЬbewafai nahi karne kaтАЭ (do not be unfaithful), with the woman lying in a pool of blood on the bed.
A day later, the accused, who claimed to be in the oil and sugar trade, posted another video on the deceasedтАЩs Instagram account, in which he admitted that he killed the woman after his business partner Jitendra Kumar told him that she was also in a relationship with him, police said.
тАЬWhen Jabalpur police detained Jitendra Kumar, he said he did not know the woman,тАЭ Laxman Singh Jharia, in-charge, Tilwara police station earlier said. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Police said they recovered тВ╣1.52 lakh cash, a mobile phone of Shilpa, four other mobile phones and two SIMs from Badane.
тАЬThe accused said Shilpa used to meet with other men too so he killed her. Police are interrogating him for more details,тАЭ said Jabalpur SP Siddharth Bahuguna.(With inputs from Monika Pandey in Jabalpur)
