Khargone (MP), Jun 23: The body of a 21-year-old woman was recovered from the banks of the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district, a day after she went missing after appearing for the NEET-UG exam, police said on Tuesday.
The body of Nikki Yadav was found on the banks of the river in the Karhi police station area on Monday, with her family now suspecting that she was murdered, an official said.
According to police, Yadav, a resident of Talavli Chanda in the Lasudia area of Indore, appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) and had travelled to the centre with her younger brother on Sunday.
Once the exam was over, she had called her mother from someone else’s mobile phone to inform her that her mobile phone’s battery had discharged and she would be home soon, they said.
When she failed to return home till late at night, her family began searching for her and filed a missing person’s report at the Bhanwarkuan police station on Monday morning, an official said.
He said that based on technical evidence, the police traced the student’s last location to the Barwah area of Khargone district, and by Monday afternoon, they received information about the body of an unidentified young woman found on the riverbank.
The official said that while no external injuries were found on the body during the autopsy, prima facie, the cause of death appeared to be drowning.
Additional Superintendent of Police Shankutala Ruhal said that the police are investigating all aspects of the case.
“Information about the student’s mobile phone, call records, social media activities, and her movements after the exam are being collected. We are also investigating how she got from Indore to Khargone and who she was in contact with during this time,” she said.
The deceased woman’s father, Ramanand Yadav, said Nikki had dreamed of becoming a doctor, and this was her third attempt at NEET-UG.
“Nikki was mentally strong and a brilliant student, so it is unlikely that she would take such an extreme step,” he said. (PTI)
