Rajasthan ‘honeymoon’ murder: How newlywed woman planned husband’s hit-and-run with boyfriend

On a breezy Friday (January 30) evening, newlywed couple Ashish and Anju from Rajasthan were out on a walk when a vehicle hit them. While Ashish died on the spot, Anju was robbed of her jewellery and left unconscious on the road.

Investigations over the next few days revealed a troubled marriage, a tangled web of lies, and a murder conspiracy.

According to the police, the newly-wedded wife, Anju, and her boyfriend of seven years, Sanju, allegedly hatched a murder plan to make it look like an accident. while Anju claimed they were hit by a vehicle while out for an evening walk, police found that Ashish’s injuries pointed to strangulation.

Here’s a look at what exactly happened.

A deadly evening walk

The police in the Rajasthan city of Sri Ganganagar received information of a couple lying unconscious on the road on Friday (January 30). Amrita Duhan, the superintendent of police, Sri Ganganagar, said that the authorities received the information around 9 pm, reported NDTV.

“We were informed that a man had been hit by an unidentified vehicle, leading to his death. We surveyed the accident site and also called the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team to investigate from the technical point of view,” said Duhan.

The police took the couple to the Community Health Centre (CHC), where the doctors declared Ashish dead. Following this, 23-year-old Anju told the officials that she along with her husband had stepped out for a walk when an unidentified vehicle hit Ashish and her. She also claimed that she was robbed of the gold jewellery she was wearing.

Walk turns into a murder probe

Following Anju’s statement, the cops began their investigation. However, they noticed many inconsistencies in the wife’s statement. They also found that Ashish’s injuries didn’t match those from a road accident. A closer investigation revealed he had been strangled to death.

The police allege that the evening walk in which Ashish died, was, in fact, a murder plotted Anju and her boyfriend, Sanju. A Dainik Bhaskar report states that Anju was in a relationship with Sanju for nearly seven years, and her family members were aware of this relationship. Despite this, the family arranged her wedding with Ashish three months ago.

Anju allegedly tried to meet her boyfriend under the pretext of pursuing her studies. Anju told Ashish’s parents she wanted to study for a BA degree in Sri Ganganagar, but Ashish shot the idea down. Police say she then discussed it with Sanju, who worked as a waiter at weddings, and the two allegedly planned to kill Ashish when she visited her hometown 16 days ago.

Following this, when she returned to Ashish’s house on January 30, Anju lured Ashish outside on the pretext of going for an evening walk. On that fateful day, Ashish and Anju went out for their usual evening walk along with Ashish’s cousin Ankit and his wife.

“We usually don’t take that road. Ashish dropped me and my wife off at home first, and then, at Anju’s insistence, they went towards the isolated stretch,” Ankit told Moneycontrol.

Hours later, the family was informed the couple had been found unconscious on the roadside in a suspected hit-and-run.

The cops have found that Anju reconnected with Sanju when she was visiting her hometown after her marriage. She went back to him as she was unhappy in the marriage and wanted Ashish out of her way.

During her visit to her hometown, she rekindled her relationship with Sanju and hatched the plan. Sanju, along with his friends, Rocky, Badal, and Siddharth, hid in the bushes while the couple took a walk. They first hit Ashish on the head with sticks and later strangulated him with a muffler, reported News18.

NDTV reported that Anju’s phone records also showed that she had been in regular contact with Sanju.

The police have arrested all four accused.

A reminder of Meghalaya honeymoon murder

This incident in Rajasthan bears a striking resemblance to another murder took place last year in Meghalaya.
Raja and Sonam Raghuvanshi were on their honeymoon when days later, the man was found dead in the jungles of Meghalaya.

Investigations revealed that Sonam had planned to kill her husband with her boyfriend, Raj Kushwaha. They planned to kill Raja during the honeymoon and staged it like an accident.

The duo hired three men to attack Raja with machetes near Wei Sawdong Falls while Sonam was there. Later, his body was thrown into a gorge, and the phone was switched off.

Later, Sonam was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Gazipur and later taken into custody. Kushwaha and the others were also arrested.

With inputs from agencies