3 min readPatnaApr 25, 2026 08:52 PM IST
When a 23-year-old schoolteacher left her rented home in Bihar’s Chapra district on the night of April 12, riding pillion on her husband’s motorcycle, her family would not have expected this was the last time they would see her. Soon, her phone went silent, and within days, the search for the young school teacher, Aradhya, turned into a murder investigation that has now led to the arrest of her husband.
“Her husband, Deepak Kumar Sah, arrived at her residence around 10 pm that night and took her along,” her father said.
Days passed without any contact. “Her phone has been switched off since that night. We searched extensively but could not find her,” her father wrote in his complaint to the police, where he also expressed suspicion against Deepak (30) and his family.
The relationship between Aradhya and Deepak, police sources said, began years earlier. “The two, who are related, had married against the wishes of her family,” said an official. The wedding was held quietly, attended by some members of Deepak’s family and a few of Aradhya’s colleagues from her school.
However, under social pressure and alleged influence from his family, Deepak began distancing himself from Aradhya. His family allegedly arranged another marriage for him. The two had been living together on and off, officials said.
Her father, in a police complaint filed on April 16, alleged that Aradhya’s disappearance and death were directly linked to these developments.
According to investigators, Deepak allegedly killed Aradhya the same night he took her away because she had become an obstacle to his second marriage. He is accused of strangling her and attempting to destroy evidence by placing her body in a sack and dumping it along the Siwan–Masrakh main road, around 15 kilometres from his home.
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Even as Aradhya remained missing, Deepak allegedly married another woman on April 21 in Siwan, according to officials and the victim’s family.
The Saran police on Saturday said a special team was constituted immediately under senior officers to probe the incident. Apart from Deepak, the police have arrested Ujjwal Kumar Sah and are conducting raids to arrest others.
“Based on Deepak’s interrogation, the police recovered her remains on Friday evening,” an official said.
Sources said the body was in a severely decomposed condition. “Due to its state, doctors at Sadar Hospital in Chapra referred it to Patna for a detailed post-mortem examination,” said a source, adding that they are awaiting the post-mortem report for further details.
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Station House Officer (SHO) Sanjeev Kumar, who was part of the investigating team, confirmed the recovery and said further investigation is in progress.
