A man took his girlfriend on a date to a waterfall, pushed her into a 1,000-foot-deep gorge, and then tried to disguise it as an accident in Maharashtra's Kolhapur, police said on Monday.
The incident comes months after a similar murder in Pune, also in Maharashtra, was reported when a woman named Siya Goyal pushed her fiance off a cliff of a fort along with her lover.
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The latest incident was reported from the Bhudargad taluka of Kolhapur. Sripad Dinkar Vadar, 25, took his girlfriend, Tarannum Bashir Naik, 23, to the Naikwadi Waterfall under the pretext of an outing on Friday. Upon reaching the top of the waterfall, the woman informed the man that their relationship could not continue as her marriage had been arranged somewhere else during the following month.
A heated argument between the couple followed, and the woman, an engineering student, refused to change her mind. In a fit of rage, Shripad pushed Tarannum straight into the gorge.
Instead of running away or confessing to his crimes, the man hatched a plan to avoid suspicions on him. He went straight to the Bhudargad police station a day later on Saturday, and told cops that they were taking a selfie when Tarannum slipped and fell into the gorge.
However, police grew suspicious of his account and started questioning him. After repeated questions, Shripad confessed to his crime and was subsequently arrested.
The victim's body was eventually recovered from a depth of approximately 1,000 feet, following which it was sent for post-mortem examination at the CPR Hospital in Kolhapur. The body was handed over to her family following the autopsy.
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According to officials, Shripad and Tarannum lived in Shivajinagar in Gargoti and had been in a relationship for about five years. Tarannum Naik had gone missing since the morning of October 9, after Shripad took her to the waterfall.
An atmosphere of outrage has taken over the village following the death of the woman, with her family alleging that the accused is close to a political leader.
"There should be an impartial investigation, free from any political pressure. Our expectation is that girls in rural areas receive protection," one of her relatives said.
The family has also demanded that the case be tried in a fast-track court.
(With inputs from Vishal Pujari)