UP Woman Brutally Killed, Dismembered by Village Head
Village Head’s Brutal Murder Shocks UP
A horrific murder case in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district has shocked the region, with police arresting former village head Sanjay Patel, 41, and his nephew Sandeep Patel, 25, for the brutal killing of 35-year-old Rachna Yadav. The woman’s dismembered body parts were discovered on August 13 in a well in Kishorpura village under Todi-Fatehpur police station limits, sparking an intensive investigation.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) BBGTS Murthy revealed that Yadav’s torso and arms were found stuffed in sacks in the well, while her head was later recovered from the Lakheri river on August 17. Her legs remain missing. The gruesome discovery followed reports of Yadav, a resident of Mailwara village in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh district, being unaccounted for days. Villagers’ tips and phone records linking Yadav to Sanjay Patel led to a late-night raid, after which the accused confessed.
Investigations uncovered that Sanjay Patel, a married father of two, had been in a two-year relationship with Yadav, a widow with two children from her first marriage. She had previously filed an FIR in 2023 against her second husband, Shivraj Yadav, for dowry harassment, rape, and attempted murder. After Shivraj’s death in June 2025, Yadav allegedly pressured Sanjay Patel for marriage and extorted large sums of money, prompting him to plot her murder with Sandeep Patel and accomplice Pradeep alias Deepak Ahirwar, who remains at large.
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On the night of August 9-10, the trio strangled Yadav inside a car, dismembered her body into seven pieces using an axe, and scattered the parts to evade identification. The torso and arms were dumped in a well, while the head and legs were thrown into the Raivan river. Police drained the well and scoured the river to recover evidence, with the decomposed body cremated after a postmortem.
Sanjay and Sandeep Patel were apprehended near Lakheri dam and sent to judicial custody. A Rs 25,000 reward has been announced for information leading to Pradeep Ahirwar’s arrest. The police team, comprising SWAT, surveillance, and Todi-Fatehpur units, was awarded Rs 50,000 by DIG Jhansi Range Keshav Chaudhary for cracking the case within eight days. Over 100 villages were searched, and 200 CCTV cameras reviewed during the probe.
The case has drawn widespread outrage, with posts on X calling it a “chilling crime” and demanding justice. This marks another grim chapter in Jhansi’s recent string of violent crimes, raising questions about safety and law enforcement in rural areas.
