Written by Saman HusainNew Delhi | November 15, 2025 04:29 AM IST 4 min readThe body of a 34-year-old woman was found in a drain in Noida,the police said, adding that they were yet to identify the woman and ascertain the cause of her death. (Screengrab X/@PTI_News)A week after the headless body of a woman was found floating in a drain in Noida’s Sector 82, a 34-year-old man who was allegedly in a relationship with her was arrested on Friday for killing her, said police. Identified as Monu Solanki, a bus driver, the accused allegedly dismembered the body to conceal her identity, and dumped the remains in two drains in Noida and Ghaziabad. During questioning, he allegedly told police that their relationship had gone sour as he was being forced by the woman to marry her. But he could not do that as he was married and he had three children, he told police.With hands and head severed and the face mutilated, the woman’s body was found on November 6. It had no identifying marks, said officers. The only clue, police said, was a silver anklet on a leg.What followed, officers added, was a multi-district search that involved nine police teams, scanning of over 5,000 CCTV cameras, and the tracking of around 1,100 vehicles.Story continues below this ad“We found the headless body of a woman floating in Sector 39 nallah… All marks of identification had been removed from her body,” said DCP (Noida) Yamuna Prasad, adding, “We deployed nine teams to probe the matter. Each team was given separate tasks like checking CCTV footage, monitoring entry-exit points, and tracking suspicious vehicular movement.”Investigators said they circulated a photograph of the victim’s leg with details of her approximate height, 5 feet 4 inches, to police stations across Delhi-NCR and adjoining districts. “Around 40 teams were sent to different thanas in Delhi and adjoining districts to analyse missing person reports. District Crime Records Bureau records were also examined,” the DCP said.During the scan of 1,100 vehicles, police shortlisted 44 vehicles as the movement appeared suspicious. The police then went on to question the owners and drivers of these vehicles. Among them was also a white-and-blue private bus that had crossed the area on the night of the incident with its headlights switched off. The vehicle bore a UP number plate.Surveillance teams then tracked the bus to Noida’s Baraula, where residents told officers that a woman named Preeti Yadav, also known as Preeti Devi, had been missing for “five to six days” and had been in frequent conflict with a bus driver (Monu Solanki).Story continues below this adOn Friday, a police team from Sector 39 arrested Solanki, who hails from Etah and currently lives in Baraula.Based on the questioning, officers said they recovered the murder weapon (a sickle), dismembered remains, the bus, the mat used during the crime, and the clothes of the deceased from drains in Noida and Ghaziabad’s Siddharth Vihar. Forensic examination confirmed human blood on the bus mat and weapon, police said.During questioning, Solanki told police that he and Preeti had been in a relationship for several years after meeting at a factory where she worked with her mother. Their relationship had soured, he claimed, with frequent fights after Solanki’s denial to leave his wife and get married to her.“I have three children. Preeti threatened me saying that if I don’t marry her then she would leave me with nothing ..,” he allegedly told police, according to Noida police’s statement to the press.Story continues below this adPolice said Solanki had picked Preeti up in his bus on November 5 and carried a sickle with him. They allegedly stopped to eat parathas before a fight broke out inside the vehicle. He then slit her throat with the sickle and later cut off her hands , officers said.He allegedly dumped the body in the Sector 82 drain and later disposed of the other body parts and weapon in a dry drain in Siddharth Vihar.The case has been registered under Section 103(1) and Section 238 of the BNS at the Sector 39 police station, which pertain to murder and concealing of evidence.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Noida