In a deceiving backstabbing revelation from the Tharwai area of Prayagraj, police have cracked the case of 17-year-old Class 11 student Sakshi Yadav, whose body was found buried near the Mansaita river in Lakhrawan village on 15 November.
Within 48 hours of the discovery, investigators arrested Army Naik Harshvardhan Singh alias Deepak, who had been on a month’s leave for his wedding scheduled on 30 November.
According to police, Deepak had been deceiving Sakshi for months, maintaining a romantic relationship with her on Instagram despite being already engaged elsewhere. Deepak’s native place is Kusungur village, Tharwai area, Prayagraj.
When Sakshi discovered from his social media posts that he was set to marry another woman, she reportedly began pressuring him to end his engagement and marry her instead.
What began as an online friendship had deepened into closeness, but Deepak—whose wedding was fixed six months earlier—saw her insistence as a threat.
He Pretended to Love Her, Then Eliminated Her
Investigators revealed that the duo started chatting on Instagram in June 2025. During his leave periods
Deepak would meet Sakshi, strengthening her belief in their relationship. But once she learned of his upcoming marriage, tensions escalated. Police say Deepak decided to “remove her from the way”.
On 10 November, when Sakshi left home for school, he picked her up at Balason Chauraha on his motorcycle.
CCTV footage later confirmed this. Instead of dropping her to school, he took her to Azad Park, where he spent nearly five to six hours trying to dissuade her from demanding marriage.
But Sakshi reportedly remained firm—she wanted him to end his engagement and take her to her parents.
By evening, under the pretext of taking her to meet her family, Deepak drove her to a secluded orchard near the Mansaita River.
There, using a knife, he stabbed her repeatedly, killing her on the spot. He then used a shovel taken from a nearby temple to dig a pit and bury her body, hiding both the knife and shovel in the soil.
Returned to the Crime Scene as a ‘Concerned Villager’
Shockingly, five days later—when the buried body surfaced and villagers gathered—Deepak too arrived at the spot, pretending to be an onlooker.
He stood among the crowd watching police work, believing that burying the body had erased all traces.
He had also formatted his mobile phone after the murder, having searched YouTube for ways to wipe an Instagram ID.
However, he failed to delete browser memory, which helped police trace his digital footprint.
Another crucial clue was a school notebook found in Sakshi’s bag, discarded on a roadside. It contained the name “Deepak Fauji” and his phone number, turning into a key lead.
Arrest and Recovery
Deepak was arrested near the old bridge on the Mansaita River. Police recovered the murder weapon—a knife—and the shovel used to bury the body. Both were found hidden close to the burial site.
DCP Manish Kumar Shandilya and DCP Kuldeep Singh Gunawat stated that the case highlights how the jawan manipulated and misled the young girl, sustaining a false relationship while preparing for another marriage, ultimately choosing murder over accountability.
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