Kanpur murder: Victim Ekta Gupta’s family ‘tracked’ accused, cops cracked case

The bereaved family of a 32-year-old woman found buried near the district magistrate’s residence in Kanpur turned amateur sleuths to track down her alleged killer after growing frustrated with police indifference, family members have said.
Four months after Ekta Gupta went missing, her body was exhumed from a 3-metre-deep grave on Saturday, following the arrest of her former gym trainer Vimal Soni, 37, who police say has confessed to the murder.
The breakthrough came not through conventional police work, but through the dogged determination of Gupta’s family, who traced the suspect’s digital footprint across multiple cities.
Also read | Missing Kanpur woman’s body dug up near DM’s residence; gym trainer arrested for murder
“We undertook the investigation ourselves after police repeatedly dismissed our concerns, claiming it was merely a romantic entanglement gone wrong,” said Himanshu Mishra, brother-in-law of the deceased’s husband, Rahul Gupta.
The family’s amateur investigation began at Green Park gymnasium, where CCTV footage last captured Ekta leaving at 6.30am on June 24. Leveraging banking sector connections, they obtained Soni’s salary account details and tracked his movements through ATM withdrawals.
“We discovered he had withdrawn ₹2,000 in Agra and later ₹700 near Shivaji Inter College in Kanpur on July 11 — all while supposedly being pursued by police,” Mishra said.
Initial police response showed promise when they recovered Soni’s car outside his sister’s house on June 25, containing crucial evidence including a rope, the victim’s broken hair clutch, and a damaged SIM card. However, the investigation then appeared to stall, the family said.
Rahul Gupta, who is a prominent businessman in Kanpur, held two press conferences highlighting police inaction in July and August. “I wrote to everyone, from the commissioner to the Prime Minister’s office, but nothing happened,” he told reporters.
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The family disputes the police’s initial theory of a romantic involvement. They allege Soni had suspect motives, pointing to his peculiar behaviour including preparing exclusive protein shakes for Ekta. “He refused to give the same shake to other clients, insisting it was only for my wife,” Rahul said. “We suspect he may have spiked her drink that day.”
Questions remain about how Soni managed to bury the body in the high-security compound, which houses residences of judicial, administrative and police officers. The burial site lies just 1.5 metres from a sentry post.
Deputy commissioner of police (East) Shravan Kumar Singh did not respond to questions on the family’s allegations.
Engagement called off a year ago…cops’ theory falls flat?
The police’s theory regarding the murder motive, based on the confession of accused gym trainer Vimal Soni, has fallen flat. According to cops, Soni claimed there was an argument with Ekta Gupta over his engagement with another woman. However, an embarrassing fact has emerged: the engagement was called off a year ago.
Families of Soni and the woman he was engaged to have confirmed that it was terminated due to a “mismatch in their ‘gotra’.” In light of this, the police have decided to broaden the ongoing investigation.
‘Multiple joints fractured, several bones missing’
Multiple joints of Ekta Gupta’s body were fractured, and several bones were found missing, revealed the post-mortem examination of her mortal remains. According to sources, doctors speculate that many bones may have been buried in the soil, which complicates the investigation. Samples of the bones have been preserved for DNA matching, but experts also indicated that the cartilage surrounding the neck has decomposed, which would make the determination of the cause of death challenging.
The fact that the body was buried in a deep pit suggests that the intention behind such action may have been to facilitate rapid decomposition, thereby obscuring vital evidence that could have been crucial in understanding the circumstances of her death, they added.