Rajasthan student's skeleton found in bushes, boyfriend confesses to murder

Police in Rajasthan's Dungarpur district have arrested a nursing student's boyfriend after her decomposed body was found near a highway. Investigators say they are piecing together the full sequence of events while examining evidence recovered from a lake.The man said that the victim had threatened to leave him, stop speaking to him or file a police complaint against him. (Credits: Yeshwant Kr Soni)Dungarpur, Rajasthan,Sep 30, 2026 17:44 ISTThe body of a woman was found in a decomposed condition in bushes along National Highway-927A in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district, with police later identifying her as a nursing student. Police have arrested her boyfriend in connection with the murder.The body was recovered near Varda Nala in the Varda police station area on September 24. Police said the body appeared to be around 10 to 15 days old.The case came to light after a man, identified as Kantilal, stopped near the highway while travelling from Dungarpur and went a short distance into the bushes. He noticed a strong foul smell and, on approaching the area, found the decomposed body. He informed the Varda police station, following which a police team reached the spot and began an investigation.The police also called the Modus Operandi Bureau (MOB) team to examine the crime scene and collect evidence. According to Varda police station officer Devendra Singh, efforts were launched to establish the identity of the woman. The body was subsequently identified as that of Nisha Katara, a resident of Ghata Bassi in the Dowda police station area.Nisha was pursuing nursing studies at a college in Sagwara and was living in a rented room there with her friends, her family told police. According to her family, Nisha had told them that she would return home on Sunday but did not arrive. They initially assumed she had been unable to come because of some work. However, when she did not attend college on Monday, her family travelled to Sagwara to look for her.Her friends reportedly told them that Nisha had left with her boyfriend, Poonamchand Katara, a resident of Parda Chaubisa under the Dowda police station, on September 19.Police subsequently began searching for Poonamchand with the help of CCTV footage, informants and the cyber cell. His movements were traced across Dungarpur, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Ambaji and Ahmedabad, police said.Poonamchand was eventually detained and brought to the police station for questioning. Police said he initially expressed grief over Nisha’s death and claimed that someone else had killed her.During questioning, however, police said he confessed to killing Nisha. According to the police account, Poonamchand told investigators that Nisha had threatened to leave him, stop speaking to him or file a police complaint against him.Police said he took Nisha to an isolated location and attacked her multiple times with a knife, striking her in the chest and abdomen.Following his questioning, police recovered the knife allegedly used in the crime, blood-stained clothes and other items from the Gap Sagar lake in Dungarpur with the help of divers.Police said further investigation is underway to establish the complete sequence of events leading to Nisha’s death.- EndsWith inpts from Yeshwant Kumar Soni