Nibu Manjhi, a 25-year-old woman from Bihar who had previously separated from her husband and left her child, entered into a live-in relationship with Shivbalak. The couple relocated to Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh, where they worked as manual laborers at an under-construction government library site. When Nibu discovered she was pregnant, Shivbalak demanded that she get an abortion, suspecting that the child was not his based on his calculation of the relationship timeline. When Nibu refused, Shivbalak allegedly lured her to the construction site on the night of July 29th under the pretext of extra work. After feeding her and waiting for her to sleep, he allegedly killed her by striking her face four times with a hardened cement bag, buried her body in a four-foot pit under dumped soil inside the library room, and fled to Bihar. Four to five days later, co-workers noticed a foul smell and raised soil, prompting the contractor to notify police. Authorities excavated the room, recovered Nibu's body, and arrested Shivbalak at his home in Bihar after tracking his phone location.
Country: India
State/Province: Uttar Pradesh, India
City/Region: Siddharthnagar
Incident Type: Domestic Violence Homicide
Relationship Status: Live-in relationship
Relationship Duration: Approximately 2 months
Incident Date: July 29, 2025
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
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How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 2 months
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2025-07-29
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Jealousy
The relationship exhibits a pattern of sudden escalation following romantic transition and social isolation. After Nibu left her husband and child to cohabit with Shivbalak, the couple severed community ties and relocated to another state. When a pregnancy occurred, Shivbalak developed unfounded suspicions of infidelity based on his miscalculation of gestational age and relationship duration, leading to coercive demands for abortion and lethal violence when met with refusal.
Siddharthnagar Police investigated after co-workers reported a foul odor and unusual raised soil inside an under-construction government library room. Following the excavation and discovery of Nibu Manjhi's body, co-workers identified her as Shivbalak's partner. Police contacted Shivbalak by phone; when he made evasive claims and hung up, investigators used call detail records and cell tower location tracking to locate him in Bihar, where he was arrested. He subsequently confessed during police interrogation.
Initial confusion arose among co-workers who assumed the foul smell was caused by a dead animal or dog inside the construction site. When Shivbalak was initially reached on the phone, he claimed his partner was with him in Bihar, creating temporary misdirection until he abruptly terminated the call.
Reconstruction indicates that after learning construction would pause following Nag Panchami, Shivbalak planned the homicide for July 29th. He coaxed Nibu to the under-construction library under the false pretense of late-night work, fed her, and waited until she fell asleep. He then struck her repeatedly in the face with a heavy bag of hardened cement, buried her body in a four-foot pit within the soil dumped inside the room, informed the contractor he was leaving for Bihar, and fled the following morning.
The extreme social isolation resulting from unannounced relocation away from extended family and formal support systems significantly elevated the victim's vulnerability. Furthermore, the suspect's unchecked cognitive distortion regarding paternity, combined with access to an isolated under-construction workplace at night, created a high-risk environment that culminated in premeditated homicide.
This case highlights how geographical and social isolation in informal live-in arrangements can mask severe interpersonal escalation. Unfounded suspicion regarding paternity served as a acute fatal trigger, while the offender leveraged intimate trust and workplace familiarity to execute a premeditated assault and concealment.
The primary early signal was Shivbalak's intense distress and repetitive demands for an abortion after Nibu's medical checkup revealed her pregnancy, driven by his mistaken assumption that the timeline proved infidelity.
Key physical clues included a persistent foul odor in the library room, a localized area of raised soil on the floor, and Shivbalak's suspicious behavior when questioned over the phone about Nibu's whereabouts.
The direct evidence included the recovered body from the four-foot excavated pit, the suspect's phone location tracking data showing his movement to Bihar, and his subsequent confession during interrogation.
Co-workers at the library site identified the victim as Shivbalak's live-in partner, whom he had introduced as his wife. The contractor reported the foul smell and abnormal soil elevation to the police once animal death was ruled out.
Initial missing-person assumptions shifted to a homicide investigation immediately upon the excavation of the body, leading to rapid cross-state coordination to apprehend the suspect.
It remains unclear whether Nibu's pregnancy was indeed from Shivbalak or whether the conflict stemmed purely from Shivbalak's mistaken calculation of gestational months.