Hindu woman found murdered inside her home by her Muslim live-in partner, accused had pretended to be Hindu to live in the area

Case ID : a049194 | Location : Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India | Date of Incident : Wed, 31 October, 2018

Case ID : a049194

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

31 October, 2018

Hindu woman found murdered inside her home by her Muslim live-in partner, accused had pretended to be Hindu to live in the area

Undecided cases

Hindu woman ends up dead in a consensual relationship

Attacked/Killed for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Raipurwa area of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a Hindu woman named Bharti (35) was found murdered inside her home by her Muslim husband named Wahid, who pretended to be Hindu to gain access in the area. According to reports, the victim had been living in a live-in relationship with the Muslim accused, Wahid, a resident of Naubasta area of Kanpur. Neighbours revealed that the accused had concealed his identity by posing as a Hindu man Rohit and was living in the area using this name. The victim had been in a relationship with the accused for nearly seven years, but her mother had opposed their relationship. After her mother’s death seven months prior, she moved to her mother’s house along with the accused and they began living together. On 1 November 2025, neighbours detected a strong stench and blood seeping from the couple's house which had been shut for several days after which they informed the police. When the police broke inside the house, they found the body of the victim in a decomposed and semi-naked state beneath a cot. The post-mortem confirmed that the victim was strangled to death. The police also found two Aadhaar cards from the house—one belonging to victim and the other to the accused, after which his real identity was revealed. According to witnesses, Bharti and Wahid frequently quarrelled. On the night before the murder, they had been heard arguing inside the house. The following morning, Wahid was seen sitting outside, telling neighbours that he was unable to sleep and that Bharti was resting inside. Later, he went back inside, after which the house was found locked from the outside, and he disappeared. Neighbours began to suspect something was wrong when a foul smell began emanating from the house several days later. Upon inspection, police found the body and immediately launched a forensic investigation. Evidence indicated that the accused had slept beside the victim's corpse for several hours before fleeing the scene. The police registered a case of murder and began conducting raids to locate and arrest him.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been placed in the 'Undecided' database due to the absence of conclusive evidence establishing a clear religious motive. In this case, a Hindu woman named Bharti was found murdered inside her home by her Muslim partner named Wahid, who had been living under a false Hindu identity as Rohit. The post-mortem confirmed that Bharti was strangled to death, and neighbours reported frequent quarrels between the couple, suggesting a strong possibility that she was killed by the accused. This case resembles a broader pattern of religiously motivated hate crimes where non-Hindu men pretended to be Hindu to befriend Hindu women for sexual exploitation or religious conversion. Even though in this case the accused pretended to be a Hindu man named Rohit, there is no clear evidence to show whether the victim knew about the accused’s real identity. Only neighbours have stated that he had been living in the area under a false Hindu name, and there is no independent confirmation that the victim herself was aware of his deception. This case fits a broader pattern where Hindu women involved in interfaith relationships with Muslim men have ended up either missing or dead under mysterious circumstances. In several such cases, Hindu women are believed to have been religiously profiled and targeted by Muslim perpetrators for sexual exploitation, often driven by religiously motivated hostility towards Hindus and Hinduism. However, at this point, because of a lack of evidence pointing to a religious motive, this is being placed under the 'undecided' database. If further information emerges that indicates that this case was motivated by religious animosity, then it would be categorised under the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The date of the incident has been recorded as 1 November 2018, since, based on the details available, the victim’s ordeal began around that time. The tracker follows the principle of recording the incident date from when the pattern of deception, manipulation, or abuse commenced, rather than when the crime was discovered or reported. In this case, the victim had been living with the accused for approximately seven years prior to her murder, during which the accused had concealed his Muslim identity and posed as a Hindu to gain her trust and access to the locality. Therefore, 1 November 2018 has been selected as the representative date marking the beginning of the victim’s prolonged victimisation, consistent with the Hinduphobia Tracker’s documentation criteria.