Meerut University’s Fine Arts lecturer Kavita Rani, missing since October 23, was murdered the next day and her body thrown into a canal, chief accused Ravindra Pradhan confessed before mediapersons today. The motive, he said, was a dispute over sleaze money.

Kavita and he had ganged up to blackmail prominent persons, including an ex-minister by filming them in compromising position, Pradhan claimed. He said they had collected Rs 35 lakh from Mairajuddin Ahmed (former irrigation minister from Rashtriya Lok Dal in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cabinet) in Lucknow.

According to the accused, while he pocketed more than half the share, Kavita got just Rs 3 lakh. The rest went to their third partner.

“There were two other prominent victims, besides an ex-minister, says Senior SP Navniet Sekera. He refused to disclose the names of the victims, citing lack of evidence. The CD has not been recovered.”

Pradhan, apart from naming Mairajuddin, also claimed that Kavita had told him that she had two more such CDs on two prominent persons of the state but that he did not see them. He said trouble started when Kavita started pressing for greater share.

Sekera said Kavita left her native village Gahnsurpur in Bulandshahr district after Diwali for Meerut on October 23. She was staying at the Indira Gandhi Working Women’s Hostel.

As per the plan, Pradhan and Yogesh (of Aligarh) picked her up en route to Garh Chaupla on the Delhi-Moradabad highway in Yogesh’s Indica car. The trio headed for Ghaziabad. Ravindra and Kavita stayed together for the night at Vijay College of Education in Shastri Nagar in Ghaziabad. Yogesh went to his sister’s house in the city.

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