A chilling murder case has come to light in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, where a woman’s chooped body was found dumped in a well. Police have arrested two men for the crime: a former village head, Sanjay Patel, who was also the victim’s lover, and his nephew, Sandeep Patel. A third man involved in the murder is still missing, police said.

According to officials, Sanjay Patel was under pressure from the woman, identified later as Rachna Yadav, to marry her. Unable to handle her constant demands, Patel and his nephew decided to kill her. On August 8, they strangled Rachna to death, cut her body into seven pieces, stuffed the parts into sacks, and dumped them in a well and near a bridge in Kishorpura village.

The case came to notice on August 13, when a farmer passing by his fields noticed a foul smell from a nearby well. On checking, he found two sacks floating inside. When police arrived, they discovered the body parts of a woman, which created panic and fear in the entire village.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jhansi, immediately formed eight special teams to solve the case. Investigators questioned over 100 villagers and checked more than 200 CCTV cameras. Thousands of posters were also circulated. On August 17, police recovered the victim’s hands from the well after draining it, but her head and legs were still missing, which made it difficult to confirm her identity.

Finally, the breakthrough came when Rachna’s brother recognised her from one of the posters. Rachna, a widow from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, had developed a relationship with Sanjay Patel while he was helping her in a legal dispute.

Police later recovered her head from the Lakheri river. They confirmed that the murder was carefully planned to hide evidence. Authorities have announced a reward of ₹50,000 for the police teams that cracked the case and ₹25,000 for anyone giving information about the missing accused, Pradeep Ahirwar.