Dewas: In a shocking incident in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district, a man allegedly murdered his live-in partner after she pressured him to marry her. To conceal the crime, he kept her body in a refrigerator for several months.
The incident was discovered on Friday morning at a house in Vrindavan Dham Colony, under the BNP (Bank Note Press) police station jurisdiction. The police were alerted after the body of a woman was found in a refrigerator by a tenant, Balbir Rajput, who had opened a previously locked room in the house to clean it. Upon opening the refrigerator, he found the woman’s body and immediately contacted the police.
According to Superintendent of Police Puneet Gehlot, the house belonged to Dhirendra Srivastava, who rented it to Balbir Rajput. Initially, the police learned that the house had been rented by Sanjay Patidar, a resident of Ujjain, who had been living there with his partner, Pratibha alias Pinky Prajapati. Neighbors revealed that they had not seen the woman since March 2024, and Patidar had claimed she had gone to her maternal home.
Based on this information, the police took Sanjay Patidar into custody. During questioning, Patidar confessed to the crime. He revealed that he and the victim had been in a live-in relationship for the past five years. In early 2024, when Pratibha began pressuring him for marriage, Patidar, with the help of an associate, Vinod Dave, strangled her to death in March 2024.
To cover up the murder, Patidar stored her body in the refrigerator, securing it with cloth and locking the room. The second accused, Vinod Dave, is currently in jail in Rajasthan for a separate crime.
The police are continuing their investigation, and further interrogation of Patidar will occur after his remand.
