A political storm broke out after an unidentified woman’s body was discovered stuffed in a suitcase near the Sampla bus stand in Rohtak, Haryana,. The police were alerted on Friday, and an investigation was launched immediately.
The case took a turn after Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra claimed the deceased was Himani Narwal, a Congress worker who had been involved in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and worked closely with Bhupinder Hooda and Deepinder Hooda during elections.
Forensic teams determined the deceased to be a young woman between 20 and 22 years old. She was found with a scarf around her neck and mehendi on her hands. Sampla police station SHO Bijendra Singh stated that preliminary evidence points to homicide, with the body abandoned on the roadside.
“We received information that a dead body has been found in a suitcase on the side of the highway and we are investigating this matter. It seems that this girl has been murdered and her dead body has been thrown here, we are investigating the rest and further action will be taken after registering a case. She is between 20 and 22 years old and the body has just been found, we will identify it and take further action,” he said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Haryana Congress president Bhupinder Singh Hooda condemned the incident, calling it a severe failure of law and order in the state.
“The news of the barbaric murder of active Congress worker Himani Narwal in Rohtak is extremely sad and shocking. I pay my tribute to the departed soul and express my deepest condolences to the family members. The murder of a girl in this manner and finding her body in a suitcase is extremely sad and shocking. This in itself is a blot on the law and order situation of the state,” Hooda posted on X.
“There should be a high-level impartial investigation of this murder and the government should provide justice to the victim’s family as soon as possible and provide the harshest punishment to the culprits,” he added.