Kolhapur man pushes girlfriend into gorge over her refusal to marry him, reports her missing

Pune, Oct 12 (PTI) In a cold-blooded murder disguised as a disappearance, a 23-year-old woman was killed allegedly by her boyfriend who pushed her into a deep gorge near a waterfall in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district after she refused to marry him, police said on Monday.

The accused, Sripad Vadar (25), was arrested after police cracked the case and recovered the body of the victim, Tarannum, from the gorge near Naikwadi Waterfall, an official said.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of October 9, when Vadar took Tarannum to a tourist spot near Patgaon village in Bhudargad taluka, inspector Sandip Jagtap of Bhudargad police station told PTI.

He said that the duo, who were residents of Gargoti town, had been in a relationship for four to five years, but the victim's marriage had been fixed four months ago and she started avoiding Vadar.

Upset about the change in her behaviour, Vadar took Tarannum to the spot for a final meeting before she tied the knot.

Vadar allegedly asked her to marry him, but when she refused, they got into an argument, and he pushed her into the gorge, the official said.

He later returned home and told his family that Tarannum had gone missing, and claimed that he had parked his motorcycle and gone to fetch water for her when she disappeared, Jagtap said.

Initially, it appeared to be a case of a missing person, but the police noticed discrepancies in the accused's account of the incident and on sustained interrogation, he cracked and confessed to murdering the victim, he said.

Police approached the Sahyadri Rescue Team from Amboli for assistance and recovered the victim's body on Saturday, he said, adding that the accused has been remanded in police custody for five days.