18-Year-Old Man's Half-Burnt Body Found Buried Under Couch In Girlfriend's House

The body of an 18-year-old man missing since last week in India was found buried Tuesday inside his girlfriend's house.

The incident, which took place in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, came to light when locals complained of a foul smell emanating from the woman's house. The police arrived at the scene and conducted a thorough search, following which they dug up the floor under the couch in a room and found the teenager's body.

The body was exhumed, and the authorities found signs of acid burns, India TV News reported. The police said the corpse was half-burnt. However, it remains unclear when Mursleem died.

The victim, identified only by his first name Mursleem, had gone missing on Aug. 11 from the town of Muradnagar. A missing case was registered on Aug. 15, the authorities said.

Mursleem's corpse was badly decomposed, The Times of India reported the police as saying. The remains have been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, and an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Meanwhile, local media Amar Ujala reported [Google Translate showed] the girlfriend and her family have been questioned by the police. They were taken into custody after the body of the victim was found. The girlfriend reportedly told the police Mursleem wanted to get married to her, but when she rejected his proposal, he allegedly killed himself inside her house. The girl was terrified after Mursleem died and she decided to hide his corpse.

She confessed she got the idea of burying the body under the couch of her house from a television crime show. To stop the dead body's foul smell, she poured salt on top of it.

In May, a man fatally shot his ex-girlfriend before killing himself because the woman got married to another person. The incident happened in Patna, a city in the northern state of Bihar. The police said 25-year-old Rajpal Paswan fatally shot his ex-girlfriend Shabnam Kumari, 23, while the latter was traveling along with her husband Vikash Kumar. Paswan intercepted them on a bike and fired several shots at their car. When Kumari refused to go with him, Paswan reportedly shot her in the head.