In February 2017, police in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, raided a house in Saket Nagar following a missing person report filed by the family of Akanksha Sharma. Investigators demolished a concrete platform constructed inside a bedroom and recovered a trunk encased in concrete containing Akanksha's body. She had been smothered to death in July 2016 by her live-in partner, Udyan Das. Following his arrest, Udyan confessed not only to killing Akanksha when she discovered his fraudulent claims of securing her an overseas job, but also to murdering his mother (Indrani Das) and father (V.K. Das) in 2010 in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Udyan had buried his parents in their garden, drawn his mother's pension for seven years, and impersonated Akanksha online using fake messages to convince her family she was alive in America. In 2020, a court in West Bengal sentenced Udyan Das to life imprisonment.
Country: India
State/Province: Madhya Pradesh, India
City/Region: Bhopal
Incident Type: Domestic Violence Homicide
Relationship Status: Live-in relationship
Relationship Duration: Approximately 9 years
Incident Date: July 14, 2016
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
Contributing Factors:
Red Flags:
Motives:
Relationship Outcomes:
How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 9 years
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2016-07-14
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Domestic Violence
The case exhibits a pattern of extreme romantic deception, coercive manipulation, financial exploitation, and escalation to lethal violence. The offender relied on fabricated identities and career promises to isolate the victim and extort money from her family. When the victim discovered the deceit and attempted to leave, the offender reacted with fatal intimate partner violence, followed by elaborate post-offense staging and digital impersonation to conceal the crime.
Police from three states (West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh) collaborated after Akanksha Sharma's brother traced her mobile SIM location and Call Detail Records (CDR) to Bhopal despite messages claiming she was in America. Upon raiding the Saket Nagar residence in Bhopal, officers discovered Akanksha's body encased in concrete inside a metal trunk beneath a newly constructed raised platform. Interrogation led to Udyan's confession regarding the double murder of his parents in Raipur seven years earlier, where officers subsequently exhumed two decomposed skeletons bound in jute sacks. Udyan was charged, tried in Bankura, West Bengal, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2020.
Initial confusion arose because the victim's family received routine mobile messages and social media interactions suggesting Akanksha was alive and working in the United States. Udyan maintained fake digital activity for months after her death and even visited her parents in Bankura to reassure them and misdirect suspicion.
Udyan Das established contact with Akanksha Sharma in 2007, posing as a wealthy international professional. In 2016, he persuaded her to move to Bhopal under the guise of arranging a job in the US, extorting money from her parents. When Akanksha discovered the deception and prepared to return home on July 14, 2016, an argument ensued during which Udyan smothered her with a pillow. He sealed her body in a metal trunk with cement, built a slab over it, and lived in the room. Her family's persistence and CDR tracking eventually led police to the house, unravelling both Akanksha's murder and the 2010 double murder of his parents.
The offender presented extreme danger characterized by severe antisocial tendencies, financial exploitation of family and partners, substance abuse, complete absence of remorse, and a history of serial homicide. He demonstrated high capacity for planning, long-term evidence concealment, and impersonation of victims to prevent discovery.
Digital footprints and call detail records (CDR) are vital in resolving missing persons cases where offenders use social media impersonation. Grand fraud and financial dependency in relationships can serve as critical warning indicators of lethal domestic violence.
Udyan's persistent extravagant lies regarding international employment, requests for upfront money for fake job placements, and refusal to allow direct voice phone calls from Akanksha after July 2016 served as major early warning signs.
The critical clue was the mobile CDR and live network location of Akanksha's phone, which showed her SIM active in Bhopal long after she was allegedly residing in the United States.
Key evidence included the physical recovery of Akanksha's body from the concrete-sealed trunk inside the bedroom, fake job appointment letters, mobile location records, financial records showing unauthorized pension withdrawals, and the exhumed skeletal remains of Udyan's parents in Raipur.
Akanksha's family reported that Udyan personally visited their home in Bankura to explain why Akanksha could only communicate via text messages and offered to take them to America, which raised her brother's suspicions.
Follow-up interrogation transformed a single missing person investigation into a triple homicide case after Udyan confessed to killing his mother and father in 2010 to usurp their property and pension.
It remained unclear whether Udyan had concrete plans or targets for further victims, though he admitted considering harming Akanksha's parents if they came to Bhopal.