Man strangles girlfriend, sets her on fire for making reels with other youths, feared getting dumped

YADGIR: A man set his girlfriend on fire for making reels with other youths and over fears of being dumped. The incident took place on farmland at Panchsheel Nagar, Arakera, in Yadgir taluk on April 2. The police have since arrested the accused.

The deceased has been identified as Antima Verma (25), who hailed from Uttar Pradesh while the accused is Maruti Rathod of Yadgir.

Antima was living with her brother in Mumbai and was active on social media. She was crazy about getting popular on social media and used to make reels and upload them. She fell in love with Maruti Rathod, who was her neighbour in Mumbai. Both were working for a private company in Mumbai and were in a relationship for two years.

Antima had a craze for making social media reels with other youths which Maruti did not like, and this has led to a tussle between the two. In the meantime, Maruti also suspected that Antima may dump him.

On April 2,  he brought her to his hometown Yadgir. On the way, he had an argument with her over making videos with other boys. Also, he apparently insisted that they get married immediately as he was worried about her, but she refused his proposal.

Enraged by her response, Rathod strangled her to death on a farmland on the outskirts of Arakera and then set her on fire to hide her identity.

The Gurmitkal police had registered a case after the body of an unknown young woman was found. The murder was revealed after Rathod’s arrest. He had even tried to mislead the police by making a video of him committing suicide by jumping into the river, and then fled from his hometown. A case has been registered at Gurmitkal police station.