First came the fake wedding. Then choreographed caste tension. And finally an elopement. A 22-year-old woman did everything her lover told her to, believing it was the only way they could get married. But all he was doing was meticulously laying out an elaborate plot that had only one ending: her murder.
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On December 26 last year, he strangled Madhuri at a sugarcane field in Greater Noida. Hemant Kaushik, a 30-year-old employee of a local health centre, was already married and had two children. In early 2016, he had started seeing Madhuri. Soon, she started insisting on marriage. Hemant had no such plan. But he kept up the ruse because he and Madhuri were from the same village ¡ª Mohammadpur Jadon in Rabupura ¡ª and he was afraid she would expose his indiscretion. At the same time, he knew he was playing a dangerous game and began planning the end.
So, Kaushik went about planting one red herring after another in a way that no one ever suspected him as he led Madhuri down the path that would end in murder. It took the police 10 days of investigation to get to him. Kaushik was picked up from his home on Friday night. He broke down during interrogation and confessed, revealing a near-flawless plot built on lies, deception and the trust of a woman who blindly believed the man she loved.
The murder was at least six months in the making. Kaushik told police that he started working on his plan when Madhuri started insisting on marriage. He apparently told her they would elope but Kaushik would have to deflect attention from himself for that. He asked her if she would be willing to go through a fake wedding for their cause, and she agreed, a police officer said.
The plan was for Madhuri to "patch up" with her ex-boyfriend Rahul, who also lived in the area, and propose marriage to him. She did. Rahul agreed. On November 27, Madhuri accompanied Rahul and his three friends ¡ª Amit, Robin and Saurabh to an Arya Samaj temple and went through the wedding rituals. Kaushik then went to Madhuri's house and told her family she and Rahul had eloped.
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There was a subplot here that worked in Kaushik's favour. Madhuri was a Rajput and Rahul a Jat. Their 'wedding' led to a furore. A panchayat was called and the wedding annulled. But the village got to know. Kaushik's plan was working better than he had imagined.
Police said on December 23, Kaushik told Madhuri the time was right to flee from the village and start a life together. She believed that and ran away with him. But they only went as far as a sugarcane field, 2km away. This, he said, would be where they would hide for a while till Kaushik found a suitable place to shift. In a little clearing in the field, Madhuri stayed put for three days, police said, braving the chill. Kaushik would bring her food, stay for some time and leave. But her patience was tested. On December 26, when she demanded to know what was going on, Kaushik strangled her with her dupatta, police said. He buried her body, returned to his house and went about his life.
When Madhuri went missing, her father Munesh Kumar filed a case at Rabupura police station against Rahul and his three friends, accusing them of kidnapping her, exactly as Kaushik had imagined. Police picked up the four and put them through sustained interrogation but they could reveal nothing. Cops then cast the net wider and put mobile phones under surveillance. They focused on calls made in the region on and after December 23.
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Police said during the investigation, they found there was constant communication between two mobile phone numbers from December 23-26. But December 26 onwards, both phones had been switched off. The location of one number was frequently near Kaushik's home. That got the cops interested. During interrogation, Kaushik told the cops he had bought two SIM cards on fake identity cards and given one to Madhuri. Both phones were found with him. Madhuri's decomposed body was dug out and sent for an autopsy. Kaushik has been charged with murder and kidnapping.
Sujata Singh, SP (rural), said Kaushik worked as a computer operator at an educational institute in Greater Noida. He married three years ago and has two children.