UP woman working with Gurgaon MNC strangled and set on fire by father, brother over live-in relationship

Days after a woman’s half-burnt body was discovered in a forest in Muzaffarnagar, police have arrested her father and brother. They allegedly strangled her and set her body on fire because they disapproved of her relationship, as per a TOI report.

The woman, 23-year-old Saraswati Maliyan, worked for an e-commerce company in Gurgaon. She was in a live-in relationship with a man named Amit, who was from her village. According to police, Saraswati had returned home to try to convince her family to accept their relationship.

Police said Saraswati had been married off in 2019 but left her husband two years later. Her family tried to arrange another marriage in 2022, but that didn’t work out. She started living with Amit in Gurgaon the same year and kept in touch with her family despite the tension.


She last spoke to Amit on May 26, saying it was her final effort to win over her family. Police believe she was murdered on the night of May 29–30. Her father, Rajveer Singh (55), and brother, Sumit Singh (24), allegedly strangled her while a friend of Sumit’s, Gurdayal Singh, held her down. They then took the body to a forest 5 km away, poured petrol on it, and set it on fire.

Two days later, the family filed a missing report to confuse the investigation. But on June 3, police found a half-burnt body near a canal. It was hard to identify the victim, but a constable and SHO noticed the bangles on her wrist and matched them to a photo online. This helped confirm the woman’s identity.

Senior officer Sanjay Kumar Verma said Rajveer confessed to killing his daughter out of anger. Gurdayal is still missing and raids are ongoing to catch him. The police team that helped crack the case has been rewarded.

A case has been filed under sections related to murder and destroying evidence. Legal action is in progress.

Inputs from TOI