Photo of woman’s body killed in Punjab shared on social media with false communal claim
details inside
PTI ,
Vartha Bharati | 01-02-2025 | 15:24:00 IST
Image Credit: PTI
New Delhi (PTI Fact Check): A photo recently circulated on social media, with users claiming it showed the body of a woman named Neelam, allegedly stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a canal in Rajasthan by a Muslim man named Abid. It was also claimed that Abid and Neelam had married five months ago.
However, an investigation by the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the accused was actually Yuvraj Singh, a police officer. Singh, who was already married, was in a relationship with the victim. Reports suggest he killed the woman to get rid of her before his wife returned to India from abroad. Additionally, it was confirmed that the body was dumped in a canal in Punjab, not Rajasthan. The photo was shared on social media with false claims and a communal spin.
Claim
An Instagram user on January 24, shared a post claiming that a Muslim man named Abid killed his wife Neelam and disposed of her body in a suitcase at a canal in Rajasthan.
The caption of the post, originally in Hindi, read: “Abid packed Neelam in a suitcase and threw him into the canal, he was married 5 months ago. #Rajasthan”
Here is the
link and
archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same.
(The image of the deceased has been blurred owing to the sensitivity of the matter).
Investigation
The Desk ran the viral image through Google Lens and found that it was shared by several other users with similar claims. Two such posts can be seen
here and
here, and their archive versions can be found
here and
here, respectively.
On further scanning the search results, the Desk came across a report by Dainik Bhaskar, published earlier this week. The feature image of the report matched with the picture of the deceased that is being shared on social media.
The headline of the report read: “Policeman murders girlfriend in Punjab: body thrown in canal; hails from Himachal, was taking air hostess coaching in Chandigarh”
Here is the
link to the report.
A section of the report mentioned: “A 22-year-old girl from Himachal Pradesh, who was undergoing training to be an airhostess in Chandigarh, has been murdered. Her body was found in the Bhakra canal in Patiala. Her boyfriend is accused of her murder. He is a policeman by profession and is posted in Mohali.”
The Desk found another report by The Indian Express, published on January 24, whose headline read: “‘Cop’ allegedly kills woman friend by pushing her into canal, held”
Here is the
link to the report and below is a screenshot of the same.
A section of the report read: “The accused, identified as Yuvraj Singh was produced in the district court, which remanded him in five-day police custody. The preliminary investigation indicated that the accused is married and was in a relationship with the victim. The accused wanted to get rid of the victim as his wife was returning to India from abroad.”
In the next part of investigation, the Desk accessed the FIR copy of the case, wherein the accused has been identified as Yuvraj Singh and the victim as 22-year-old Nisha Soni. Below is a screenshot of the translated FIR copy.
In the next part of investigation, we contacted Rupnagar Police for their comment on the viral claim. The fact-check report will be updated as and when a response is received.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that there was no communal angle in the incident, since both the victim the accused were of the same religion.
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