Nidhi Gupta Murder Case: Accused Sufiyan Arrested After Police Encounter In Lucknow

Sufiyan was shifted to the KGMU trauma centre after sustaining a bullet injury in his leg. Lucknow Police had announced a cash reward on him. 

Sufiyan, accused in the Nidhi Gupta murder case, was arrested following a police encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow on Friday, according to the police, as reported by the news agency ANI. He is accused of the alleged murder of a Hindu girl who was thrown from the terrace in the Dubagga area of the city on Tuesday.

The accused was shifted to the KGMU trauma centre after sustaining a bullet injury in his leg. Lucknow Police had announced a cash reward on Sufiyan. 

According to the police, the accused was absconding since the night of the incident, following which the police announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for his arrest, as reported by ANI. Nine police teams were deployed in search of Sufiyan who, according to the police, was in a relationship with Nidhi Gupta, the deceased.

Four teams were constituted to search for Sufiyan in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana. The police searched for Sufiyan’s location based on his call details. Following a heated argument, he had allegedly murdered his girlfriend by pushing her from the fourth floor of a building in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.

The victim sustained severe injuries and was taken to the King George's Medical University trauma centre by her relatives where doctors declared her dead during treatment. The incident occurred in Sector H, Basant Kunj under Dubagga police station limits of the state capital on Tuesday night.

The FIR based on a complaint by the girl's family alleged that the accused Sufiyan used to pressurise Nidhi to convert her religion before marriage. The Lucknow Police has filed a case against the accused Sufiyan under Section 302 and Sections 3 and 5 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law.

"A minor girl died after she was pushed from the fourth floor. A case under murder and caste conversation has been registered. Teams have been formed to find the accused. As per the initial report, the accused Sufiyan was trying to befriend the victim for the past one-and-half years and both families were aware of this," said Joint Commissioner of Police Piyush Mordia, as quoted by ANI.

"Earlier, both families had quarrelled over Sufiyan's gift to the victim. After the fight, the victim ran towards the terrace and the accused followed her. Family members then heard a sound and found the victim in a critical condition after she fell to the ground," added police official Mordia.

(With ANI Inputs)