Firozabad, July 26 -- A village drama turned deadly in Tundla, where love, betrayal, and a digital murder plan came together in a crime that has left an entire community shaken. Sunil Yadav, a 38-year-old farmer and part-time worker from Ulau village, didn't know that the woman feeding him curd at dinner was planning to kill him-not once, but twice. His wife, Shashi, allegedly mixed poison into his food, not out of impulse but as part of a calculated plot hatched with her lover, Yadvendra, a man from the same village. The motive? To get rid of Sunil, the only thing standing between them. And like many crimes of passion today, this one had a modern twist-the poison was ordered online.
It was May 12 when Shashi served her husband a bowl of curd spiked with a toxic substance she had procured via the internet. Inspired by a similar crime in Indore, she thought the poison would do the job swiftly. It didn't. Sunil fell violently ill and was rushed to a hospital. For a while, it seemed he would pull through. And he did, for a time. After a short stay in the hospital, Sunil was brought home to recover. On May 14, as he regained strength, Shashi saw her chance again. She served him another seemingly innocent bowl of curd. This time, the poison did its work. Sunil collapsed, and by the time anyone could react, he was gone. The family, believing it to be a natural death, performed his last rites. There was no postmortem. The body was cremated. The murderers, it seemed, had succeeded. But Shashi hadn't counted on one woman-Sunil's mother. Ramdhakeli, Sunil's mother, couldn't ignore her instincts. She had noticed the distance between her son and Shashi, and the suspicious closeness between her daughter-in-law and Yadvendra. Weeks after the cremation, she went to the police and filed a complaint, naming them both. SP City Ravi Shankar Prasad said the case hinged entirely on circumstantial and digital evidence. "There was no body. No autopsy. But the complaint gave us a starting point," he said. The police dug deep-and found their trail. The poison had been ordered online. Call records between Shashi and Yadvendra spiked in the days leading up to Sunil's death. Forensics teams collected Sunil's clothes and bedsheets for traces of the toxin. It was enough.
On Thursday, both Shashi and Yadvendra were arrested and sent to jail. Sunil and Shashi had two young children: 10-year-old Anshu and 6-year-old Deepanshi. Now, their father is dead, and their mother behind bars for his murder. What began as a secret affair has ended in a broken family, two ruined lives, and two children left behind in the wreckage. "Crimes of love are not new," said a senior officer, "but the cold planning and digital execution of this one-it's chilling."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.