By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 10 May: The Uttarakhand Police on Friday recovered the body of Shailendra Bhatt from the Chila Canal in Pauri district and reached the conclusion that it was he who murdered his girlfriend, Arti Dabral, a teacher, after celebrating his birthday on Sunday evening.
A team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) recovered the body of Bhatt from the Chila Canal, where he had committed suicide after telling his friend that he had murdered Dabral.
After the murder of Dabral (26), the police were mainly suspecting Bhatt of the heinous crime. Now, after the recovery of Bhatt’s body, the police have reached a definite conclusion that he murdered Dabral. However, the motive is still not yet clear.
“The police have investigated the murder from all angles. They have not got any evidence of the involvement of any other person (other than Shailendra Bhatt),” said SSP, Dehradun, Ajai Singh.
The police are trying hard to pick up various clues to reach a definite conclusion on what happened on the fateful day of Sunday evening when Dabral purchased a birthday cake for her friend Bhatt (26), an unemployed man, who was living at his sister’s house in Shyampur area of Haridwar district. Though police are confident that Bhatt murdered Dabral, it is finding tough to find the exact motive behind the murder. “There are certain circumstances which led to the murder. Bhatt was mentally upset as he was preparing for the PCS exams. Secondly, he also believed Dabral was having an affair with someone else,” said a police official investigating the case.
The Police claim that both Dabral and Bhatt were in a relationship for nearly 6-7 years. It was very intriguing to find that Bhatt took the extreme step to kill Dabral on a day when they were celebrating his birthday. Secondly, it was also hard to believe that a lover can be so ruthless in slitting the throat of his beloved. The police have investigated the murder from all these angles before reaching a conclusion that it was Bhatt who murdered Dabral and later threw her body near a bridge in Chhiderwala area, here. The knife used to slit the throat of Dabral has also been recovered.
The body of Dabral was found on Monday morning. After the recovery of the body, SSP Singh had reached the spot and ordered investigations.
