Heartbreaking Tragedy: Delhi Woman Found Dead in Suitcase, Family Devastated

When 23-year-old Neelesh left her house in Delhi’s Trilokpuri around 12.30 pm on May 28, she told her father that she was going to the bank about a kilometre away to get some details updated. She didn’t return.

Her father and three brothers searched for her in every possible place. Meanwhile, on May 30, the body of a woman was found stuffed in a suitcase near a canal in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. The body was decomposed.

On May 30, Hapur Police were alerted about a body stuffed inside a suitcase in the Sikhera area. They first sent the body for a post-mortem, and an FIR was registered for murder and disappearance of evidence. By then, through a missing person’s complaint filed in Delhi, police established the woman’s identity — it was Neelesh.

According to the post-mortem report, Neelesh was strangled to death, said Patniash Kumar, SHO, Pilkhuwa police station. “There were no signs of any assault on her body,” he added.

On June 6, Neelesh’s friend, Satendra Yadav (29), a resident of Delhi’s Vinod Nagar, was arrested for allegedly killing her. Yadav worked with a real estate firm. Police claimed they recovered the woman’s bank passbook, Aadhaar card, two mobile phones, and a car from his possession.

Neelesh was the youngest among four siblings and lived with her father in a rented one-room house in Trilokpuri, after her mother’s death nine years ago. All her brothers were married and lived in separate houses.

Pointing towards a black and white sketch of Neelesh and her father hanging on the green wall of her room, next to her parents’ picture, a family member recalled, “The day she went missing, we got a call from her father. She had told him that she would return by 1 pm… but she hadn’t.”

“We rushed to Trilokpuri and first alerted the Mayur Vihar Phase 1 police station. We also went to check CCTV footage at the bank, but there was no sign of her. All we did then was pray,” the family member added.

The family was preparing for Neelesh’s wedding. “We were excited about the preparations. On April 30, she was engaged to a man in UP’s Etah district. After her wedding, she wanted to have a beauty parlour of her own,” the relative added.

However, a call from Hapur Police on June 4 tragically ended the family’s wait. The family was called to identify the body. “Her yellow suit and a Tulsi beads necklace helped us identify her,” another relative said.

Yadav got acquainted with Neelesh when they lived in the same locality, police said. During questioning, Yadav allegedly told police that he had been in a relationship with Neelesh for over three years. “Neelesh had loaned Yadav Rs 5.25 lakh. She wanted the money back on May 28 when she met Yadav,” an officer said.

According to the police statement, Yadav claimed he lost his temper when she asked for the money and allegedly strangled her using her scarf. “He then stuffed her body into a suitcase, which he had in his room. Later that night, he drove to the Sikhera canal, a route he frequently used to avoid toll taxes, and dumped the suitcase. He bought the car with the money given by her,” a police officer said.

Her father, Abhibharan Singh, is a retired Nagar Nigam employee. Neelesh had allegedly given his savings to Yadav. On the day she was killed, he had asked her to give Rs 1 lakh for an emergency. Police traced Yadav after his car’s number plate was captured in CCTV footage. During questioning, Yadav allegedly told police he suspected her of cheating on him with another man.