The Shraddha Murder Case has shaken the country to the core. However, similar cases have come to light in the past where the brutality involved has been staggering. Unfortunately, the culprits in many such cases roam freely on bail. One such case was of Ekta Deshwal, who was chopped into pieces and buried in a field by Shakib and his family members.
There are some similarities between the two cases. As no one knew for months that Shraddha was missing, Ekta’s death also came to light after several days. The main accused in Ekta Murder Case, Shakib and his eight associates, are currently out on bail.
Ekta was a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab. On June 5 2019, she was murdered in Meerut. However, it was only on June 13, 2019. Her death came to light after a person named Ishwar Pandit saw a dog running away from a sugarcane field with a human hand in its mouth. Pandit called the police, and the investigation into the matter began. The murder case had remained unsolved for a year.
The field from where the dog found the hand was excavated, and police recovered Ekta’s chopped body. The trial in the case is yet to begin. Speaking to OpIndia, a relative of Ekta said they were unaware of the progress made in the case. The family could not follow up on the case properly due to their weak economic condition.
‘We do not know about the progress made in the case
Speaking to OpIndia, Ekta’s mother, Seema Deshwal, said they were unaware of the status of the case. Firstly, because of the weak economic condition and secondly, Meerut being far away, she could not pursue the case. She added that after giving the DNA sample, no papers were received either from the police or from the court in the matter. Ekta’s mother further added that Shakib usurped all the gold in her house through her daughter. The police are yet to recover it. She said since the murder of her daughter, she has started fearing Muslims.
The case is in CJM court.
OpIndia found that the case is currently in CJM court. Speaking to OpIndia, SHO Daurala RK Pachauri said that the case is in Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court. The next hearing has been set for December 2, 2022. From there, the case will move to the District Judge’s court. Later, it will be determined which Sessions Judge will hear the matter. He added that the plaintiff, that is Ekta’s mother, would be called at the time of testimony. SHO added that the lawyers hired by the government are pleading on Ekta’s behalf. He added that all nine accused in the case were granted bail.
Ishmat was the first one to get bail, Shakib claimed that his ‘confession’ was obtained under pressure
As per the information gathered by OpIndia, a woman accused in the case, Ishmat, was the first person to get bail. Initially, her bail was rejected by the Sessions Court, after which she approached Allahabad High Court. A hearing was held on the matter on July 10, 2020, in front of Justice Siddharth’s bench. The court granted bail due to the lack of criminal history of the accused and stated no strong recovery was made from her by the police. Later, another accused, Musharrat, was granted bail on similar grounds. Mustakim also approached the high court and was granted bail on September 3, 2020.
The bail hearing of the main accused, Shakib, took place in Allahabad High Court on January 13, 2021, in front of Justice Pradeep Kumar Shrivastava’s bench. Shakib’s counsel argued that the deceased eloped with him without any pressure and was living happily with him. Shakib claimed in front of the court that he was sent to jail based on his confession in police custody that was taken under pressure. Shakib also told the court that he does not have any criminal history.
Based on the arguments, he was granted bail by the court, which said the police were unable to find any concrete evidence against Shakib to keep him in jail. The remaining five accused were also granted bail after Shakib on different dates.
The murder of Ekta
As per the police report, during the investigation, it was revealed that on June 5, 2019, the day of Eid, Shakib took Ekta out for a ride. At around 9 PM, he gave Ekta a drink spiked with drugs. His brother Musarrat, father Mustaqeem, sister-in-law Reshma, Naved, Musarrat’s wife Ismat and fellow villager Ayaan took Ekta to a deserted place while unconscious.
As per the statement given in front of the Meerut police, Reshma took off all of Ekta’s clothes. All the accused chopped her hands, legs and head. The police said Shakib chopped off Ekta’s hand as there was a tattoo of his name on it. The body was buried in the sugarcane field that belonged to one Sabi Ahmed. They sprinkled salt on the dead body to speed up the decomposition process. The hands, legs and head were thrown into the village pond. Furthermore, it was revealed that Shakib continued to use Ekta’s social media accounts after the murder.
Shakib’s role was revealed in June 2020
For almost a year, the Police did not find out about the role of Shakib and his associates in the murder. The murder case remained unsolved. It was only after Shakib confessed to the crime under the influence of alcohol in front of his friends and one of the informants passed the information to the police that he was arrested. At that time, Ekta’s uncle told OpIndia that Shakib used to work as an occult practitioner in Ludhiana. Ekta suffered from an allergy, which could be why she visited Shakib. Notably, Shakib used to wear Kalawa on his hand during that time which is a Hindu symbol.
Ekta’s uncle also said that it could also be that he spotted her during some event near the Ludhiana Bus Stand, where he used to work from and started keeping an eye on her. Her mother said that when the family became aware of their budding relationship, they summoned Shakib to their home. Even then, the accused had worn a Kalava around his wrist.
Ekta’s uncle told OpIndia that, as per Shakib’s sister-in-law, the two of them had gotten married in a Dargah, and a nikah had not occurred. Ekta had also stolen gold jewellery worth Rs 25 lakhs from her own house before eloping with Shakib.
After eloping, the two of them had been living at an apartment in Daurala. On the occasion of Eid, he took Ekta to his house last year. That is when the girl came to know that she was living with a Muslim man. As per reports, after Ekta learned that he was a Muslim, she was not ready to live with him. This led to an argument between the two, and Shakib decided to kill her. Shakib spiked the girl’s cold drink, after which she fell unconscious. Shakib then took her to a sugarcane field nearby and strangulated her to death. He then beheaded her and chopped off one of her arms to hide her identity. He threw the girl’s body parts elsewhere and buried the remaining torso in the cane field belonging to one Sabi Ahmed.
Shakib continued operating Ekta’s social media accounts ever after the murder. He continued updating her Facebook account himself and changed the profile picture on WhatsApp at regular intervals. As a result, everyone thought that she was alive.
After he was arrested, Shakib attempted to run away from captivity. He had snatched the pistol of a constable and tried to make a run for it. A police constable was injured during the encounter. The police recovered the murder weapon and the victim’s phone from the accused.
