UP police have traced a woman who had been missing from Gonda for nearly three years, after her family and in-laws had separately filed cases of murder and abduction against each other, officials said on Monday.
The woman was located in Lucknow and living with her boyfriend, Gonda's Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Jaiswal said.
He said that Kavita (23) married Vinay Kumar from Daduha Bazar on November 17, 2017. She went missing from her in-laws' home on May 5, 2021.
"Meanwhile, Kavita's family accused her in-laws of murder, leading to the registration of a case against her husband, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law at the Kotwali Nagar police station," Mr Jaiswal said.
Despite extensive searches, Kavita's whereabouts remained unknown. In December 2022, Vinay Kumar, the husband, also filed a case against six people, including Kavita's brother Akhilesh, alleging that they had kidnapped her.
Mr Jaiswal said that both investigations were ongoing, but no progress was made in locating Kavita. The matter escalated to the High Court, which demanded details of the police's actions.
Following this, the Special Operations Group (SOG) and Kotwali police located Kavita at the residence of her boyfriend, Satya Narayan Gupta, in the Daliganj area of Lucknow, he said.
"Satya Narayan owned a shop in Durjanpur market, Gonda, and Kavita frequently visited him. Their relationship grew closer, leading her to elope with him," the SP revealed.
During questioning, Kavita stated that she had lived with Satya Narayan in Ayodhya for a year before moving to Lucknow.
The officer said that Kavita is undergoing a medical examination and will be presented in court, where further legal actions will be taken as per the court's directives.
