Lucknow: In Uttar Pradesh, a criminal case with a dramatic movie-like twist has come to light. A woman allegedly tried to frame her husband in cow slaughter cases twice, ostensibly to obtain a divorce so she could live with her lover she met on Instagram.
Following an investigation, the Uttar Pradesh Police registered a case, arrested the lover, and are after the woman now.
The matter gained attention on 21 January, when police reached the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow bench) premises to arrest Ameena (who is in her late twenties). She was there to meet a lawyer. The police were waiting for her outside the court premises.
However, a few members of the police team entered the campus to search for her. Some advocates strongly objected to it, as the policemen tried to enter a lawyer’s chamber and arrest the woman without a warrant. Soon, chaos broke out as a crowd gathered. The advocates demanded action against the officers.
After court security was informed, some more police personnel arrived and escorted the policemen out. During the confusion, the woman disappeared. She is yet to be arrested.
Subsequently, the policemen who went to effect her arrest were booked on several charges, including trespassing, and suspended.
Also Read: Indians are falling for the big fat Instagram wedding – manufactured happiness for algorithm
The ‘affair’
According to police, Ameena, a Lucknow-resident, allegedly plotted to frame her husband, Wasif, in a cow slaughter case so she could live with her lover Amaan, a Bhopal resident.
Lucknow Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vishwajeet Srivastava confirmed to ThePrint the woman, who is the main accused in the case, is absconding, while her lover is behind bars. According to him, Ameena met Amaan on Instagram and gradually became close. Amaan would travel to Lucknow often to meet her.
First, they planned to frame her husband in a cow slaughter case in August last year. This would have meant him going to jail and the woman would then have a reason to seek divorce. To execute the plan, her lover allegedly joined a social media group for cow vigilantes using a fake name, DCP Srivastava added.
In September, the DCP said, Amaan allegedly kept 2 kg of meat in the husband’s SUV, which was parked in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow. The woman had reportedly given him the car keys. Later, the lover tipped off Bajrang Dal, whose local functionaries informed the police. The meat was then recovered from the vehicle. The husband, a businessman in the paper industry, was arrested and sent to jail but was released on bail after a month.
Police said the woman then allegedly made another attempt to frame and send him behind bars.
This time, she booked a porter vehicle, an e-rickshaw, online using her husband’s phone and shared the booking details and OTP with her lover. Their plan was to send meat from Aminabad to the Kakori area, where her husband worked, in that e-rickshaw to make it appear that he was behind the illegal transport of the meat.
Amaan allegedly arrived in Lucknow on 14 January and brought 10 kg of meat with him. The DCP said that once again, the woman’s lover used his contacts to inform a cow vigilante group that meat was being transported in that vehicle.
Acting on the tip-off, a team from Lucknow’s Kakori police station stopped the vehicle and recovered the meat on 15 January.
The DCP added that since the vehicle owner had the woman’s and her husband’s mobile numbers as those who booked the vehicle, police brought the husband to the police station for questioning.
During questioning, the husband told the police that he had installed CCTV cameras at home because he suspected his wife was having an affair. Then, police examined the footage.
‘Rahul’—Fake name
The investigation further found that the man’s wife had allegedly planned the entire act with Amaan.
Another police official said the meat was allegedly brought from Bhopal, hidden inside a cardboard box, and quietly loaded onto the vehicle. To ensure the police stopped the vehicle quickly, Amaan is said to have informed Bajrang Dal members using a fake name, Rahul.
Police also found out how the relationship started. The woman and Amaan met on Instagram in 2022, and their casual chats slowly turned into an affair, this official added.
Police arrested Amaan on 20 January, and the investigation established the role of Wasif’s wife, an official said, adding that the police are now on the lookout for her.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: Sneaky links — the secret romances no one wants to post on Instagram