A 57-year-old man has been arrested by Mankapur police for murdering his girlfriend and burying her body in a forest after she pressured him to marry her. The crime came to light on Tuesday.
The accused, Mahesh Keshav Valskar (57), has confessed to the crime, and the police plan to exhume the buried body on Wednesday.
The deceased has been identified as Priya Bagdi, also known as Priya Gulak (24). She had been living separately from her family in Godhni for the past six years and suddenly went missing on August 16. Concerned about her disappearance, Priya’s mother visited her residence and found it locked. Upon learning that Priya had not been seen for a week, she filed a missing person report at Mankapur police station. DCP Rahul Madane led an investigation, tracking Priya’s phone location to a hotel in Ramtek, owned by Mahesh Keshav Valskar.
During the investigation, police discovered that Priya had been in a relationship with Mahesh for the past eight years. During this time, Priya became pregnant, but Mahesh forced her to have an abortion. She had been pressuring him to marry her, but Mahesh, already married, was unwilling. Three days before the incident, Priya visited Mahesh’s hotel and again insisted on marriage. In a fit of rage, Mahesh strangled her, then transported her body 3 kilometers from the hotel and buried it in the forest.