A murder mystery in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, has been solved, revealing a brutal and shocking story of infidelity, blackmail, and extreme violence. Police have arrested Manu Solanki, a married bus driver, for the murder of his lover, Preeti Yadav, whose body was found decapitated and dismembered in a drain last week.
According to Indian media reports, the victim’s mutilated body was found near Sector 108 on November 6, her head and hands severed, which had made immediate identification almost impossible. Solanki, the accused, was identified as the victim’s lover who allegedly committed the heinous act out of frustration over blackmail and continuous demands for money.
The investigation involved meticulous police work, including sifting through over $5,000$ hours of CCTV footage and tracking the movement of over $1,000$ vehicles. The police eventually focused on a white and blue bus, which led them to the accused, Manu Solanki.
During interrogation, Solanki confessed that Yadav was persistently blackmailing him and demanding a large portion of his income. When he resisted, she allegedly threatened to expose their affair to his wife and children. The accused further claimed that the victim escalated the blackmail by threatening to involve his child in illegal activities.
Police confirmed that Solanki planned the murder under duress. On November 5, he drove Yadav away in his bus. Following an argument, Solanki used a sharp weapon to decapitate the victim and severed her hands to conceal her identity. He dumped the torso in a drain in Noida and disposed of the head and hands in Ghaziabad by crushing them under his bus. Police have since recovered the murder weapon and other blood-stained evidence.
