A team of the Special Task Force arrested two active members of a gang run by jailed serial killer brothers Salim, Rustam and Sohrab on 21 September. The accused have been identified as Salman alias Aftab Malik of Khadra and Mohammed Arshad Siddiqui of Madeyganj. They also admitted to stabbing Mansi Yadav to death and dumping her body in the river during interrogation. She was killed on 4 September.
They were planning to loot a jeweller in the area and were apprehended following a tip-off. Authorities received information that they were in the Gudamba neighbourhood of Lucknow to rob a bullion dealer located on Kursi Road near Scorpio Club. The cops acted swiftly and captured them as well as seized two country-made pistols each of a different bore, five live cartridges, two mobile phones, and a car from them.
The two confessed to the kidnapping and murder of a young woman named Mansi Yadav who was the daughter of a farmer and revealed that her body was thrown in the Ghaghra River on Bahraich Road. Mohammed Arshad Siddiqui alleged that the victim had an affair with his married brother. Furthermore, neither of them relented and was adamant about tying the knot despite repeated attempts by the family to make the couple understand.
The 20-year-old was reportedly the source of conflict at his house and they were being defamed as a result of the love saga. He also disclosed that he planned her murder and included Salman alias Aftab Malik in the same. The two drove in a Swift car to her rented room close to Integral University on the fateful evening and took her along with them. The culprits attacked her with a knife after travelling five kilometres and put an end to her life. Afterwards, they tossed her corpse, mobile and murder weapon into the river. They discarded their blood-stained clothes in the Gomti river.
Bahraich Police was contacted to retrieve the deceased’s body. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Special Task Force, Dharmesh Kumar Shahi proclaimed that he learned that henchmen of serial killer brothers Salim, Rustam and Sohrab group were going to rob a bullion businessman on Kursi Road. “Both were nabbed and revealed their names as Salman alias Aftab Malik and Mohammed Arshad Siddiqui during questioning. The arrest solved a case of murder of a girl, Mansi, abducted on September 4 and was murdered later by them.”
The arrest of the two accused is a major breakthrough for the authorities. They are now investigating the involvement of the serial killer brothers in other crimes who gained notoriety in 2005 when they murdered three people in Hussainganj, Hasanganj and Madiaon within a 45-minute period, the day before Eid.