The smell gave it away. Villagers in Rae Bareli district noticed a strong stench coming from a house and told the village head, Akhilesh Yadav, who called the police.
Officers dug up the floor of a room in the house on Friday and found the decomposed body of 26-year-old Amit Raidas. Officials said so on Saturday. The village is Pure Rajau Majre, under Dalmau police station limits.
Police say Raidas was strangled. They name Ram Prakash Paswan, 31, as the killer, the husband of a woman Raidas was allegedly involved with. According to police, Paswan buried the body under the earthen floor, covered the spot with bricks and plastered over it.
What police say led to the killing
Giriraj Shankar Tripathi, circle officer for Dalmau, described the family history. “Rita Paswan (29) married Ram Prakash, a labourer, in 2016, and the couple has two sons,” he said. After prolonged marital discord, Rita reportedly moved back to her parents’ home in 2020 and began a relationship with her neighbour Amit. The two have a three-year-old daughter.
Police say Ram Prakash went to Rita’s house on the night of July 29 and found Amit there. The two men argued. Ram Prakash is accused of strangling Amit and then running off.
Rita told police she kept quiet out of fear for her own life and her daughter’s safety. The killing stayed hidden for nearly two days.
Case and arrests
Police excavated the room late Friday, acting on information from questioning. The body went for post-mortem examination to establish the exact cause and time of death.
Station house officer Raghavan Kumar Singh said a case has been registered against Rita Paswan and Ram Prakash Paswan on a complaint from Amit’s brother. Rita is in custody for questioning. Ram Prakash is absconding, and teams have been formed to trace and arrest him.
