Woman kills mall worker, mutilates face to fake own death

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A young woman teamed up with her lover to allegedly murder a shopping mall worker as part of a plan to fake her own death and then kill her relatives to "avenge" her parents' suicide, police said Friday.

A body with the face mutilated by boiling oil was found in the accused Payal Bhati's house in Greater Noida.

A suicide note was found beside the body with Bhati's signature on it. The note claimed that her face got disfigured by hot mustard oil following an accident at home, leading her to feel that "the world would not accept her" forcing her to take the extreme step, a police official said.

It was actually the body of the shopping mall worker Hema Chaudhary (28), Additional DCP (Central Noida) Saad Miya Khan said.

Bhati had planned to kill four relatives whom she held responsible for the suicide of both her parents in May, the police said.

"Both the accused, Payal Bhati and her partner Ajay Thakur (27), have been arrested," Khan told reporters.

Chaudhary did not know Bhati or Thakur. The duo chanced upon her at a shopping mall store and hatched the plan after noticing that she had a physical build similar to that of Bhati, the officer said.

Chaudhary lived in the Surajpur area with her sister, mother and child. She had gone missing on November 12. Three days later, her family lodged a missing person's complaint, prompting a police probe, he said.

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"Thakur had befriended Chaudhary on November 12, taken her to Bhati's home on some pretext where they slit her throat, her wrists and killed her," the police officer said.

"After that, Bhati poured boiling mustard oil on Chaudhary's face and mutilated it. She changed the clothes with her own and then left a suicide note stating her own name as its signee," he said.

The police officer said Bhati had planned to fake her own death and then kill her cousin Sunil, sister-in-law Swati and Swati's two brothers whom she held responsible for her parents' suicide.

Bhati's parents had taken a loan of Rs 5 lakh from Sunil, who constantly nudged them for repayment. Bhati believed Swati and her two brothers also harassed her parents which impacted peace in their house, according to the police.

SHO of Bisrakh police station Anil Kumar Rajput said an investigation into the missing person's case lodged by Hema Chaudhary's parents led them to Thakur who was found to have been in touch with Chaudhary around November 12.

"It was only after this that the whole killing and the conspiracy behind it was unveiled. Both the accused have confessed to the crime," Rajput said.

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