PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Haldwani
A resident of West Champaran, Bihar has been arrested for the murder of a Yoga trainer in Haldwani’s Mukhani area of Nainital district. The victim, a 35-year-old woman named Jyoti Mer belonged to Jodhpur, Rajasthan and was found dead in her room on July 31. Police initially suspected suicide but a post-mortem examination confirmed death by strangulation. The arrested accused has been identified as Abhay Kumar, also known as Raja.
According to Nainital senior superintendent of police Prahlad Narayan Meena, the victim’s mother Deepa Mer lodged a complaint at Mukhani police station on August 3. The subsequent investigation revealed that the Yoga training centre where the victim worked was operated by two brothers Ajay Yaduvanshi and Abhay Yaduvanshi.
The younger brother Abhay managed the administration of the centre while Ajay handled the teaching. Meena said, “Police investigations found that the victim was in a relationship with the elder brother, which Abhay strongly opposed. During interrogation, Abhay admitted that the relationship led to conflict within the family.
He claimed that his elder brother had stopped providing him financial support and eventually forced him out of their house. Angered by this, Abhay decided to kill Jyoti.” The SSP said that as per Abhay, he went to the victim’s residence on July 30. “He strangled her from behind with her dupatta, killing her on the spot. After committing the crime, he left for Banbasa in a taxi and crossed into Nepal. From there, he remained away until he recently returned to Uttarakhand. Police tracked him using CCTV footage and information from an informant. He was arrested from Nagla in Udham Singh Nagar on Tuesday,” he said.
The SSP said that police are interrogating the accused and further action will be taken accordingly.
