The Rewa police in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday arrested 31-year-old Yunus Ansari for the murder of 21-year-old plantation contractor Vikas Giri whose remains were found in 80 pieces from Dudhmuniya forest in February this year. Another accused, Ansari’s brother-in-law Sirtaj Mohammad, is still at large.

“A resident of Chhuiya village Vikas Giri, 21, a contractor of plantation of forest department, went missing in October 2021. His father filed a missing complaint. In February, some cattle grazers found some parts of his skeleton and his Aadhaar Card in Dudhmuniya forest and they informed the police,” Rewa superintendent of police (SP), Navneet Bhasin said.

In February this year, police recovered 80 pieces of skeleton from the forest.

During their investigation, police learnt from villagers that Vikas and Ansari were business partners, and Vikas had been seen many times with Ansari’s sister. On November 14, police detained Ansari and he finally confessed to the crime during cross questioning. He claimed that he saw Vikas and his sister together at his house, because of which he and Sirtaj attacked Vikas with a rod and killed him. Later, they took the body in deep forest and dumped it.

Police arrested Ansari under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

This case comes close on the heels of Shraddha Walker’s murder by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who chopped her into 35 pieces that he stored in a fridge and disposed over the course of several weeks.