On the night of January 25, 2025, 22-year-old Shilpa Pandey was allegedly strangulated to death by her distant cousin and live-in partner, 22-year-old cab driver Amit Tiwari (also referred to as Amit Pandey), inside their rented home in Khoda, Ghaziabad. According to police reports, Shilpa had been pressuring Amit to marry her, which caused frequent disputes as Amit wanted to end the relationship and feared family rejection due to their cousin relationship. On the evening of January 25, during an alcohol-fueled argument, Amit strangulated Shilpa. He packed her body into a suitcase and enlisted the help of his friend, 22-year-old welder Anuj Kumar. After attempting reconnaissance to move the body to Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, they encountered heavy police security and vehicle checks due to Republic Day preparations. Pivoting to an alternate plan, they purchased diesel, transported the suitcase to a deserted garbage pile near Ghazipur, Delhi at around 1:30 AM, covered it with straw, poured diesel on it, and set it on fire. Ghazipur Police received a PCR call at 4:01 AM, recovered the charred remains, and registered an FIR under BNS Sections 103(1), 238, and 3/5. By tracing vehicle movements through CCTV analysis and RTO ownership records, police identified the WagonR car, traced its recent sale to Amit, and apprehended him in Greater Noida, leading to his confession and the arrest of Anuj Kumar.
Country: India
State/Province: Delhi, India
City/Region: Ghazipur
Incident Type: Domestic Violence Homicide
Relationship Status: Live-in relationship
Relationship Duration: Approximately 1 year
Incident Date: Jan. 25, 2025
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
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How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 1 year
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2025-01-25
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Family Opposition
The relationship involved a live-in romantic partnership between distant cousins, creating inherent family and social tension. As the victim requested marriage, the suspect resisted due to societal and familial disapproval surrounding cousin relationships. The escalation occurred when chronic interpersonal conflict combined with acute alcohol consumption, leading to fatal violence and joint co-offender concealment.
Delhi Police at Ghazipur registered an FIR under Sections 103(1) (Murder), 238 (Causing disappearance of evidence), and 3/5 (Common Intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The case was solved within 48 hours using technical surveillance, CDR/dump analysis, and CCTV tracking of 20 to 25 candidate vehicles. RTO records led to a previous owner in Loni, who confirmed selling the WagonR to Amit two months prior. Amit Tiwari and Anuj Kumar were both arrested.
Initially, police faced a complete blind murder case because the body was entirely charred and lacked personal belongings, mobile phones, or clear physical identification marks. Additionally, strict Republic Day police checking forced the perpetrators to alter their original disposal route toward Prayagraj and burn the body locally in Ghazipur.
Reconstruction indicates that Amit strangulated Shilpa between 8:00 PM and 8:30 PM on January 25, 2025, in Khoda, Ghaziabad. He packed her body into a suitcase and summoned Anuj Kumar. Between 9:00 PM and midnight, they conducted reconnaissance to take the body to Prayagraj, but twice encountered police checkpoints due to Republic Day alert. They then purchased diesel in a bottle from a petrol pump, drove to Ghazipur, Delhi around 1:30 AM, dumped the suitcase on a garbage pile, covered it with straw and diesel, and ignited it. After dropping Anuj off and returning to Greater Noida, Amit was stopped again at a checkpoint before being apprehended based on CCTV and vehicle ownership records.
Intimate partner violence risk escalated severely due to intense relationship disputes regarding marriage, social stigma associated with familial relationships, high alcohol consumption, and lack of external intervention or mediation support.
Rapid cross-jurisdictional coordination (Delhi Police and UP Police) combined with automated vehicle license tracking and petrol pump CCTV retrieval proved essential in solving an unidentified burned body case within 48 hours.
Frequent verbal arguments regarding marriage pressure and the social unacceptability of their cousin relationship served as early signals of severe instability.
CCTV footage showing a WagonR car stopping, leaving, reversing back to the exact garbage dump site, and driving off immediately after a fire started supplied the vital clue.
Key evidence included charred body remains and suitcase fragments, CCTV footage of the WagonR car, petrol pump transaction footage showing diesel purchase, and location/CDR corroboration.
Local residents near Ghazipur reported seeing a intense fire on a garbage pile around 1:30 AM to 2:00 AM, attempted to extinguish it, and discovered a charred human body inside a burned suitcase, prompting a PCR call at 4:01 AM.
Initial reports described an unidentified burned body in a garbage dump, but follow-up police interrogation and technical evidence established the identity of victim Shilpa Pandey and revealed the live-in cousin dynamic.
Legal trial outcomes and formal judicial sentencing remain pending as court proceedings advance.