Fatehpur, Jan 4 (IANS): Police in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district have arrested three persons in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old woman whose body was found in a thicket in April last year.

The arrested persons are a 22-year-old man, his 45-year-old mother and his brother-in-law, 30.

The victim, a Dalit, had been in a relationship with the 22-year-old man, who is also a Dalit, police said.

In 2021, she had eloped with him, police said.

Later, when she refused to marry him and allegedly threatened to frame him and his family members in a false case, they killed her.

The search is on for the father of the accused.

According to the police, the case dates back to April 12, 2023, when the body of a woman was found.

Police found that a name was written on her hand.

“Fearing that they might be implicated in a false case, the man and his brother-in-law brought the woman to Fatehpur from Ludhiana district, Punjab, on the pretext of meeting his parents. While on the way to her residence, the three accused strangulated her to death and later dumped the body in a thicket. The accused removed her clothes and ornaments in a bid to conceal her identity,” said a police officer.