Lucknow, Jan 4 (IANS): A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for the alleged murder of her stepfather, who sexually exploited her for years.

The body was recovered from a drain near Amrapalli Hospital under Dubbaga police station limits in Lucknow on December 19, 2022.

The woman's husband has also been arrested.

The police said the couple, who have confessed to the crime, hatched a plot to eliminate Mohd Fayyaz, 42, as he had sexually exploited his stepdaughter on several occasions, even after her marriage.

Inspector in-charge of Dubbaga police station, Sukhveer Singh Bhadauria said the identity of the deceased was ascertained by her own daughter Yasmeen on December 21 after which an FIR was lodged under the IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (concealment of evidence).

The post-mortem had confirmed that Fayyaz died by strangulation.

He said Fayyaz's stepdaughter claimed that she was sexually exploited for several years before her marriage, and it continued even after.

"The woman said she spiked Fayyaz's drink with Clonafit (sleeping pills) after he tried to take advantage of her husband's absence on December 17, 2022. She said she strangulated him to death with a nylon rope when he was unconscious. She kept the body at her house for over 24 hours and tried to dispose of the body during the early hours on December 19 when her husband returned," the police official said.

The case was solved as the deceased's last mobile location was found at the suspect's house, after which he went missing and his mobile phone remained switched off.