Rajasthan: Illegal arms dealer turns out to be absconding murderer; arrested
The accused, a native of Udaipur’s Keshav Nagar, had eloped with a 33-year-old married woman from Rajsamand in 2019 and later murdered her
An illegal arms dealer, arrested by a special task force of the Udaipur police on Sunday, turned out to be an absconding accused in the murder of a woman from Rajsamand two years ago, an official familiar with the development said.
“We arrested the man, identified as Rahul Raj Chaturvedi (40), on Sunday from Udaipur’s Pratap Nagar place and seized one pistol. However, while checking his past crime record, we found that he has been absconding in an elopement case from four years ago. Later, he also confessed during the interrogation that he murdered the woman,” district police superintendent Bhuvan Bhushan said.
According to the police, Chaturvedi, a native of Udaipur’s Keshav Nagar, eloped with 33-year-old married woman Bhanu Priya Goswami from Rajsamand in 2019.
One of the woman’s relatives had filed a complaint against him at a local police station, but the police could not trace him.
“Both stayed at rented accommodation in Ghatna area. He smothered her to death in 2021 after a heated argument,” the SP said.
Following the murder, the accused plotted a plan by watching over 1,300 episodes of a popular crime television series to dispose of the body.
“Later, he dumped the woman’s body into a drum, filled it up with a cement mixture and other chemicals to prevent the body from smelling, and left it in the room for years,” the SP said.
However, he was caught by his landlord in 2022 when he returned. “The mixture somehow leaked from the drum, and his landlord came to know about the murder. But his landlord agreed to help him cremate the body secretly and dump the mortal remains into a water body. Nobody knew about the matter,” Bhushan said.
He was caught after the Udaipur police got a tip-off about Chaturvedi in connection with an illegal weapons deal case and arrested him from a check post in the area.
“After bringing him to the Dhanmandi police station, one of constables, who was posted in Rajsamand during the elopement case, identified him as the accused in that matter. During investigation, the murder also came to the fore,” Bhushan said.
The police have filed a fresh case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and 3/25 of the Arms Act.
“We are also probing the landlord’s involvement in the matter. Necessary action will be taken against him as well after investigation,” the SP added.
