Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested three individuals linked to the murder of a woman, allegedly orchestrated in collusion with her husband to collect insurance money just a year after her marriage in Lucknow. The arrested persons have been identified as Kuldeep Singh, lawyer Alok Nigam, and Deepak Verma. Speaking about the incident, an officer stated that it took authorities 17 months of investigation to resolve the case, revealing a pattern of extravagant spending, a Rs 10 lakh loan, and a substantial life insurance policy -- all taken out in the woman’s name.
32-year-old Abhishek Shukla, a resident of Kanchanpur Matiyari, married Pooja Yadav (28) in April 2022. This was Shukla's second marriage, reportedly conducted with the intention of financially exploiting his wife while she was alive and profiting from the insurance upon her death, the officer added. Within a year of the marriage, Shukla took a Rs 10 lakh loan and purchased six vehicles – four cars, two bikes – in instalments in Pooja's name. He also bought a life insurance policy worth Rs 50 lakh for her and began conspiring for her murder and how to make it look like an accident.
How woman's death was planned?
On May 20, 2023, Ram Milan, her father-in-law, took Pooja out on the pretext of buying medicine and when they were on a road, a car ran over her, leading to her death, he said. Police arrested Deepak Verma as the driver of the offending car from the scene of the crime. Shukla and Ram Milan are still at large.
How Police solved the case?
Shukla came under the police's radar in November 2023 when he went to encash his wife's life policy but instead stoked the insurance firm's suspicion. The firm approached police, which launched an investigation into the matter, the DCP said. "On examining Verma's phone call details, evidence of his conversation with Pooja's husband Abhishek and father-in-law Ram Milan was found. On strict interrogation, he revealed the truth of the incident and the police solved this case," the officer added.
(With PTI inputs)
