Nidhi Gupta murder: Boyfriend Sufiyan shot in leg, arrested after encounter

Uttar Pradesh police on Friday (November 18) nabbed a man, accused of throwing his girlfriend to death from the fourth floor of a building in Lucknow, after an encounter.

Nineteen-year-old Nidhi Gupta, a resident of Sector H of Basant Vihar, died after falling from the fourth floor of a building on November 13. Nidhi’s family has accused her Muslim boyfriend Sufiyan of pushing her to death after she refused to convert to Islam.

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Lucknow police had announced a reward of ₹25,000 on Sufiyan’s head after he went missing following the incident. He was caught and arrested after an encounter with police on Friday and has sustained a bullet injury in his leg.

The case is being compared to the Shraddha Walkar murder case because of the inter-religious relationship of the victim and the accused.

According to police, Nidhi, a trained beautician was living in the same locality as Sufiyan and both of them were in a relationship for the past few months.

Nidhi’s family in their complaint have said that Sufiyan had given her a mobile phone and through it was constantly trying to brainwash her into converting into Islam. Nidhi’s parents said Sufiyan pushed their daughter to death after they confronted him and his family on his attempts to convert her.

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In her complaint, Nidhi’s mother Laxmi Gupta said the relationship between the couple had soured and Nidhi had stopped talking to Sufiyan for the past few days before her death, due to alleged pressure from him and his family on her to convert into Islam and do ‘nikah’ with him.

Gupta said while they sent Nidhi to her grandparents’ house to prevent Sufiyan from meeting her, they were not aware that she was in touch with him through a mobile phone that he had gifted her.

Nidhi’s parents saw her using the mobile phone on Sunday and immediately took her to Sufiyan’s house to confront him and his family. They were also accompanied by Nidhi’s maternal uncle.

According to Nidhi’s father, the fateful incident occurred at Sufiyan’s house after the two families got involved in a brawl.

An irate Sufiyan allegedly threatened Nidhi’s uncle that he would burn his car if he didn’t stop interfering in their affair. Hearing the screams, Nidhi reportedly went upstairs and Sufiyan followed her.

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Nidhi’s father said they later heard her scream and rushed upstairs, only to find Sufiyan standing alone. He said Nidhi was lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

She was immediately rushed to King George’s Medical University but succumbed to her injuries later.