A shocking twist has emerged in the murder case of a 40-year-old woman whose partially burnt body was found in a field here on February 21. What police had initially described as a “solved” case has now raised serious questions about the victim’s true identity. Five days after the body was recovered, police held a press conference claiming they had cracked the case and arrested four accused, said media reports. The victim was identified at the time as Archita Arora, allegedly a resident of Ambala who had later moved to Delhi. Police had said she was murdered following a dispute over financial transactions at a hotel in Meerut.
According to investigators, the accused – including hotel operator Chanchal Kumar – conspired to kill the woman after she allegedly threatened them with a false rape case. Police arrested Chanchal along with three others – Gurmukh, Sandeep and Vivek – on February 26. They also seized a car, a blanket allegedly used to suffocate the victim, and an empty acid bottle. An FIR was registered under BNS Sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (destruction of evidence), reported The Times of India.
The body, which had been disfigured with acid to prevent identification, was cremated a few days later.
However, the investigation took an unexpected turn when a 59-year-old woman from the Lebap Velayat region of Turkmenistan contacted police via video call, claiming that the deceased was her daughter, Muhabbat Sunatovna Nazhmudinova — not Archita Arora.
SP (Rural) Abhijeet Kumar said the earlier identification was based on documents found near the body and statements given by the accused. “Later, we found that the Delhi address on the Aadhaar card was fake. Further inquiry revealed a possible flesh trade network involving foreign nationals,” he said.
A senior officer privy to the probe said Muhabbat’s last phone call was made to an Uzbek woman, Aziza Fayzullaevna Kilicheva, 49. Police shared a photograph of the body with Aziza, who forwarded it to Muhabbat’s mother in Turkmenistan. The mother identified her daughter based on her clothes and earrings.
During the investigation, police also recovered an expired Turkmenistan passport issued to Muhabbat in 2009, which had lapsed in 2019. Officials now suspect that she may have been overstaying in India and living under a false identity.
TOI has accessed a letter issued by Turkmenistan’s state notary office in which Muhabbat’s mother authorised Aziza to take custody of the cremated remains and make arrangements to return them to Turkmenistan.
While the four accused remain in custody on murder charges, the case — once declared solved — has now widened into a complex investigation involving identity fraud, possible immigration violations, and an alleged cross-border network.
