Three people have been arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (Representational)
A 37-year-old "self-styled doctor" allegedly killed a patient in Chhattisgarh's Durg district to fake his married girlfriend's death so that they could elope, the police said on Monday.
The police on Sunday arrested Umesh Sahu, his girlfriend Supriya Yadav (32) and their accomplice Pradeep Janghel (36) for the murder of Surja Bai Markam, an official said.
Mr Sahu allegedly killed his long-time patient Ms Markam and kept her body in a refrigerator at his clinic on August 14. The next night, the accused along with Mr Janghel, transported the body to Durg in a car, he said.
The body was then taken to Supriya Yadav's house, where the three planted her jewellery on the victim and set her on fire in the storeroom of the house, the official said.
Ms Yadav's in-laws lodged a complaint with the police after they found the charred body of a woman in the storeroom on the intervening night of August 15 and August 16, he said.
They identified Supriya Yadav's jewellery on the body and feared that she had died in the fire, the official said.
On August 16, one of Ms Yadav's relatives informed the family that she was found lying unconscious between Khairagarh and Jalbandha villages and was taken to her parents' house, he said.
During the probe to identify the victim, the police detained Supriya Yadav, a mother of two, and found that she wanted to elope with Umesh Sahu and the couple hatched this elaborate plan to fake her death, the official said.
Supriya Yadav started missing her children and wished to return home, he said.
The trio have been arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, he said.