Prayagraj: Police have identified the body of a young woman found near a canal culvert in the Mauaima area on Friday.The deceased has been identified as Muskan Mishra (24) of Mailha village in Bahariya. Police investigations revealed that she was allegedly murdered in Pratapgarh and her body was dumped nearly 17 Km away in Mauaima to conceal the crime. Following a complaint filed by the victim’s family, police arrested Muskan’s father-in-law Pushkar Mishra and her brother-in-law Neeraj Mishra. A case has been registered under serious sections, including dowry death. According to Muskan’s brother Sunil, she was continuously harassed for dowry after her marriage to Dheeraj Mishra in Feb 2023. He alleged that Muskan was killed by her father-in-law and brother-in-law with the support of other family members. Due to dowry disputes, Muskan had been sent to her maternal home twice earlier, but was later sent back after family intervention. Sunil said the last conversation with his sister took place on Feb 5 at around 9:30 pm through a video call. Her mobile phone was switched off at 12:30 am. On Feb 6, Muskan’s father-in-law filed a missing complaint, claiming she had left home with jewelry and cash. Later the same day, Sunil identified Muskan from photographs of an unidentified body found near Bhawanigarh canal culvert that went viral on social media. DCP Gangangar Kuldeep Singh Gunawat said a case has been registered. He stated that the accused have been arrested, interrogation is underway, and the postmortem report will determine the exact cause of death.
