Ramnivas said he convinced Priya to follow him into a forest on the pretext of “converting her into a man” where he killed her with a hammer.
Shahjahanpur, UP: A woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district was allegedly murdered by a ‘tantrik’ (occultist) who claimed to ‘change’ her into a man so that she could marry her lesbian girlfriend.
According to the police, the victim, identified as 30-year-old Priya, was in a same-sex relationship with Preeti, 24, and wanted to get married to her, however, owing to societal norms and laws prohibiting such wedlock, Priya wanted to change her gender so that she could be with her girlfriend.
“Priya (30), a resident of RC Mission police station area, had befriended Preeti (24), a resident of Puwayan. Both later entered into a same-sex relationship,” Superintendent of Police S Anand told news agency PTI.
The senior officer said that Preeti was not able to get married after her same-sex affair with Priya came to light and ultimately hatched a plan with a local tantrik to murder her lover.
Preeti and her mother Urmila allegedly met the occultist, Ramnivas, a resident of Mohammadi area, and hatched a plan to kill Priya, the officer said, adding that Preeti told the tantrik that Priya wanted to become a man.
The tantrik, reportedly took advantage of this and was promised Rs 1.5 lakh by Preeti’s mother if he kills Priya.
Preeti called Priya and convinced her that the tantrik could change her gender and then, as per the plan, led her to the occultist, who took her to a forest and murdered her.
According to the police, Priya had left her home on April 13 and had since been missing. Her family lodged a missing case on April 18.
Following the complaint, the police launched an investigation and found that Priya had been in touch with the alleged murder, Ramnivas and her lover Preeti.
SP Anand said that based on these inputs, the police detained Ramnivas and during interrogation, the tantrik confessed to the crime.
Revealing the gory details, Ramnivas said he convinced Priya to follow him into a forest on the pretext of “converting her into a man” and told her to lie down on a river bank with her eyes closed. Priya did what the tantrik asked her to do following which the accused bashed her head in with a hammer and killed her.
Ramnivas then hid Priya’s body in the bushes before fleeing the spot, police said.
They said that the tantrik and Priya’s lesbian lover, Preeti, were arrested on Tuesday and booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), adding that the hammer used to kill Priya, has also been recovered from the tantrik’s house.
The police have also launched searches to nab Preeti’s mother’s Urmila, who is still absconding, they said.
(With PTI inputs)