Deoria: A school manager in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district has been arrested for the alleged murder of a woman teacher, Rani Vishwakarma, 26, who taught at V N Central Academy in Nai Bazar, Chauri Chaura, in the neighbouring Gorakhpur district, India Today reported. The accused, Vijay Nishad, was taken into custody by the Rudrapur police and the Special Operations Group (SOG) after an investigation into her death.

Source: India Today via News89

According to Deoria Superintendent of Police Abhijeet R Shankar, the incident took place on October 31, 2026. Vishwakarma reached the school at around 8.30 am and again raised the subject of marriage with Nishad, the manager of the same institution. Police said Nishad, who is already married and has two children, tried to dissuade her, and an argument followed. At around 9.15 am, he allegedly took her in his white Maruti WagonR to a secluded unpaved road near Meetha Bel village and, when the conversation failed to resolve the dispute, allegedly strangled her on the rear seat of the car.

Source: The CSR Journal

Police said the accused then placed the body in the car's boot, covered it and drove around for the rest of the day, allegedly breaking the victim's mobile phone and discarding her ATM card between Bankat and Bairagi while driving towards Chauri Chaura. At around 8.30 pm, he allegedly dumped the body in bushes near Shri Net Global School in Rudrapur, Deoria, and fled. Police received information about a woman's body in roadside bushes within the Rudrapur police station limits that evening, and the victim was identified the following day as Rani Vishwakarma, daughter of Subhash Chandra Vishwakarma, a resident of Khuruhuri village in Gorakhpur district.

Following a complaint by her family, a case was registered under Sections 103(1) and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. SP Shankar said the accused was arrested and produced before a court for further legal proceedings. During the investigation, police recovered the victim's ATM card, cardholder and mobile phone cover on the basis of disclosures made by the accused, and a forensic examination of the WagonR was carried out, with samples collected from the boot where the body had allegedly been kept for several hours.

The SP said the necessary technical and forensic procedures had been followed. He added that the victim's family has raised suspicions about the possible involvement of other people; only one arrest has been made so far, and police say they are investigating that angle as part of the ongoing inquiry. The allegations against Nishad are police allegations at the investigation stage and have not been proven in court.