Varanasi: The main accused in the murder of a 22-year-old MSc student Shreya Upadhyay, whose decomposed body was found in the washroom of a locked house last month, was arrested after an encounter near Jagatdevpur on Monday morning.Police said the accused opened fire while trying to flee during a checking operation and sustained a bullet injury in his right leg in retaliatory firing. A country-made .315-bore pistol, one empty cartridge and one live cartridge were recovered from him.Rajatalab police arrested Vivek Choubey alias Nikhil, a resident of Niyar Dih under Cholapur police station in Varanasi, in connection with the murder. He was later admitted to the Community Health Centre, Jakkhini. Police said a separate case has been registered under the Arms Act. Vivek was wanted in a case registered at Rajatalab police station under Sections 103(1), 3(5) and 238(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.The case relates to the murder of 22-year-old Shreya, a resident of Marui village under Rajatalab police station limits. Shreya, the only daughter of her family and an MSc chemistry student at Jagatpur PG College, went missing on Aug 18. Her decomposed body was found on Aug 20 inside the bathroom of a rented house in Bachhav Westpura under Rohania police station limits.The postmortem report revealed injuries including a slit throat, head injury and marks indicating that her legs may have been tied. Police had earlier arrested co-accused Puneet Mishra, around 26, after an encounter on Aug 24. He was later sent to jail. Vivek’s father, Ram Sahay Choubey, was arrested on Aug 27 and also sent to jail.According to police, Vivek admitted during interrogation that he was upset after Shreya’s marriage was fixed with another man. Police said he wanted to marry her and had been pressuring her, but she refused.Investigators said Vivek, a distant relative of Shreya, had allegedly been keeping watch on her for a long time. He worked with a rural bank and stayed in a rented room in Bachhav during fieldwork.Shreya’s family alleged that Vivek had been blackmailing her. They claimed he had photographs clicked with her in wedding attire, edited them and threatened to make them viral if she married someone else. Shreya’s marriage had reportedly been fixed with a DRDO officer, with the engagement scheduled for Nov and the wedding in Feb.According to police, Vivek planned the murder after the marriage was fixed and involved his friend Puneet Mishra from Mau by allegedly promising him Rs 22 lakh. Puneet was reportedly facing financial difficulties.On Aug 18, Vivek contacted Shreya while she was on her way to college and took her to the rented room. Police said Puneet was already present there. Vivek allegedly held Shreya’s hands while Puneet slit her throat with a knife. The body was left in the bathroom, and both accused fled.During the investigation, police examined around 150 CCTV clips and conducted raids at several possible locations, including Bihar, Jharkhand and Kolkata. Teams also gathered information from Vivek’s relatives, acquaintances and people who had been in contact with him.
