LUCKNOW: A woman believed to have been killed seven years ago, is in police custody, and her husband was jailed for eighteen months for her murder, in Uttar Pradesh. The police took into custody Aarti Devi, who was living with her second husband. Aarti's first husband Sonu Saini (32), arrested in the case, spent one and a half years and his friend Gopal Saini (30) spent nine months in jail.

Aarti went missing from her rented house in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh in 2015. Sonu and Aarti met at Mehndipur Balaji temple in Rajasthan, fell in love and got married without the consent of their families. The woman demanded money from Sonu after marriage and wanted the land which was in his name to be registered in her name. When Sonu refused to do that, she left him. Sonu searched for his wife in many places but could not find her.

In the meanwhile, a body of a woman was found in the Magora Canal in Mathura after a few days. The police cremated the body as a post mortem could not be performed. When Aarti's father Suraj Prakash Gupta came to file a missing complaint, the police showed him the pictures of the body found in the canal. Suraj, who saw the pictures, confirmed the body as that of his daughter and accused Sonu and his friend Gopal for killing her.

In 2016, a case of murder was registered against Sonu and Gopal and both were arrested. The police officers who investigated the case had also received a reward of Rs 15,000. The Allahabad High Court granted bail to both of them after many years. After a search of six years, Sonu and Gopal found her and informed the police. The police took her into custody last Sunday.