UP teacher murdered in car, body dumped in bushes; school principal arrested

On Saturday, Rani Vishwakarma told her family she was going to the Gorakhpur school where she worked as a teacher to collect her salary. Later that day, the body of a woman was found 15 km away by the roadside in the Rudrapur area of Deoria.

With no belongings near her, she could not be identified at first. Police said they circulated her photograph on social media, and she was soon identified as Rani from the Jangha area of Gorakhpur. Police contacted her family, who said she had gone to school and not returned home.

Police said the family suspected the principal’s role, alleging that he had been harassing Rani for some time and that she was upset. Police traced the principal, Vijay Nishad, 36, and took him into custody. During questioning, Nishad, who is married, allegedly told police that he and the victim had been in a relationship for the past few years and that she had been pressuring him to marry her.

Rani had been teaching at the school since 2018. Nishad allegedly told police that he had asked Rani to accompany him in his car on Saturday. After driving some distance, he stopped to talk to her. But a heated argument broke out, during which he allegedly strangled her, police said.

Nishad was arrested. Circle Officer (Deoria) Rajesh Chaturvedi said the accused has been booked on charges of murder and destruction of evidence. Later on Tuesday, Rani’s family members and local residents staged a protest in Gorakhpur, demanding compensation and the demolition of the accused’s school and houses.

Protesters also blocked the road and claimed that others besides Nishad were involved, demanding their arrest. Rani was the third of five children of Subhash Chandra Vishwakarma, a carpenter. Her sister, Ragini, claimed the school principal had called Rani to collect her salary despite it being a holiday on Saturday.

The school is around 8 km from the victim’s home and Rani usually travelled there by the school bus. “For the past few months, the principal had not been paying her the full salary. My sister went to the school to collect her pending dues, unaware that the person who had called her there would allegedly take her life,” Ragini alleged.

“We suspect she was killed following a dispute over the money. She had told us that the principal had assured her that all her dues would be cleared,” Ragini claimed. Samajwadi Party’s Gorakhpur district president Brijesh Gautam, who visited the victim’s house today, said they claimed that three more persons were involved in the crime.

The unrest eased only after police and district administration officials reached the spot and promised that the family's demands would be sent to the government for consideration and that the role of others would be examined during the probe.

Station Officer of Jangha police station in Gorakhpur, Gyanendra Singh, said the situation is normal now.