Agra: A specific shade of golden nail paint led Agra police to identify the decapitated body of a woman and arrest the killer who had brazenly joined her family in searching for her.
On 24 January, when the body was found wrapped in black polythene and sealed with red tape in a yellow bag on the Yamuna bridge, Agra police faced two challenges—identifying the victim and recovering the head.
The breakthrough, police said, came from an unlikely clue. In the absence of any clothes or facial features to go on, investigators focused on any possible distinguishing marks on the body—in this case, a golden shade of nail paint on her hands.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Syed Ali Abbas told The Print that all 44 police stations in Agra were directed to send information on missing young women.
“We got to know five women were reported missing. The parents of these women were asked to come to the police station with the entire collection of nail paints belonging to their daughters. When checked, only Minky Sharma had the exact matching nail paint shade in her collection,” the DCP said.
Minky Sharma worked as an HR manager at Divisha Technologies and was reported missing by her family in Agra on 23 January.
With identification done, investigators turned their attention to her call data records, which revealed frequent communication with Vinay Rajput, an accountant at the same company. A review of over 100 CCTV cameras from Sanjay Place, where Minky and Vinay’s company operated, to the Yamuna bridge showed Rajput carrying the bag containing Minky’s body on her scooter, police said.
“This was enough to bring Vinay into custody,” the DCP said.
Minky’s family said Vinay had joined them in searching for her, even accompanying them to the police station to file a missing person report.
The HR manager’s brother Deepak Sharma told ThePrint the family had doubts about Vinay “from the beginning”.
“…Even when he had joined the search for Minky with us. We had shared these doubts with the police that guided the investigation and led to his arrest,” Deepak said.
Motive uncovered
During interrogation, the DCP said, Vinay revealed that he was in a relationship with Minky for three years and they had planned to marry, with her parents’ initial approval. But, for the past six months, Vinay suspected Minky of having an affair as she had stopped discussing marriage and her phone remained busy till late hours.
“Vinay told the police that while he was spending money on Minky, she was talking to someone else. This made him furious and he planned to murder her,” the DCP said.
Vinay allegedly cut the CCTV camera wires of the entire office building on 17 January and purchased a sharp knife used to chop coconuts. On 23 January, when Minky came to Sanjay Place to post wedding cards for her brother’s wedding, she visited Vinay at 4pm, police said. Minky told him that she wouldn’t be coming to the office for fifteen days due to the wedding.
Around 8pm, when offices in the building closed, Vinay locked the office door from inside. “At that time, Minky allegedly asked for Rs 1.5 lakh for her expenses. This led to an argument and Vinay stabbed her multiple times, killing her on the spot,” the DCP said.
The body bore nine deep stab wounds. After the murder, Vinay allegedly spent two hours cleaning bloodstains from the office floor and walls before decapitating the body and severing the feet. He packed the torso in one bag and the head in another, dragging the body to the lift at 1am.
He then transported the body to the Yamuna bridge on Minky’s scooty and attempted to throw it into the river, but the railing was too high and the body too heavy, police said.
Eventually, he left the body on the bridge and disposed of the severed head in a drain deep inside Jharna forest, abandoning the scooter there, the DCP said.
Crime scene analysis revealed that the murder had been committed by one person, as evidenced by drag marks showing a single individual struggling to lift the body over the bridge railing.
Following his arrest, Vinay led police to Minky’s clothes and the murder weapon. Forensic teams used infrared lamps to uncover bloodstains on the office floor and walls. The severed head is yet to be recovered, according to police.
“There is plenty of digital, forensic and physical evidence against Vinay and he has been sent to jail,” the DCP said.
The accused’s family refused to comment on the case, saying that they were examining legal options. Vinay was sent to jail on 27 January and his family is yet to engage a lawyer.
On Thursday, Minky’s father Ashok Sharma questioned police findings and said, “We suspect that there are more people involved in this murder and the police are taking the attention away from the motive of the murder by making up a story about a love angle in the murder.”
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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