Bid to subject suspect to polygraph test unravels 2 murders; 2 held

Meerut: An attempt by police to subject a suspect to a polygraph test in a case of disappearance of a 16-year-old girl from Satvan Patti village in Bareilly has led to the unravelling of two separate murders, besides the alleged suicide of an 18-year-old youth due to police torture.The case began on Jan 8 last year when Aziz Ahmad reported that his daughter went missing from Satvan Patti village. Despite the recovery of her mobile phone about 800 metres from her home, police found no trace of the girl for several months.In Sept 2025, skeletal remains, clothes and a braid of hair were recovered from a sugarcane field near the Kailash river. DNA analysis later confirmed the remains to be that of the missing girl, converting the case into one of murder.During the probe, police questioned several youths who had been in contact with the girl. One of them, Salman (18), was repeatedly summoned for questioning and allegedly died by suicide on May 1. His family accused the police of custodial torture and claimed he was innocent. An FIR was registered in connection with Salman's death, and the matter remains under investigation.The other persons the girl was in contact with were Salim Hussain (26) and Mohd Asim (35), also known as Dr Bengali, who ran a rural clinic in Bhuta area. SP (North) Mukesh Kumar Mishra said the breakthrough came when police called Salim for a polygraph test after suspecting his involvement in the crime. Salim then contacted Dr Bengali to inquire about the test, which alerted him.Mishra said Bengali, with Salim's help, had killed his wife in 2017, and her body was never found. Fearing that Salim might reveal the eight-year-old secret during the polygraph test, the two decided to flee to West Bengal. However, police arrested them on Wednesday before they could carry out their plan.During questioning, Salim confessed to killing the girl by choking her, claiming she had been persistently pressuring him to elope, which he was unwilling to do. Police are yet to recover the second body, and investigations are ongoing.Following the arrests, Salman's father, Mohd Ashfaq, told TOI that he believed his son had been driven to suicide due to police torture and said he had approached the high court seeking justice.With inputs from Asif Ansari