Etawah, Feb 9 : A 50-year-old man surrendered before a Etawah court in Uttar Pradesh for murdering a 22-year-old woman in 2020.

He surrendered on Thursday. The alleged accused Ram Kumar's surrender comes a week after the woman Rita's body was handed over to her family for last rites after being preserved in district hospital mortuary for over three years due to lack of identification.

The body was handed over to the family after a DNA report from Hyderabad's Central Forensic Lab confirmed her identity.

'Now we hope for justice. Our demand is that the murderers of my daughter be given the death sentence,' said her mother Bhagwan Devi.

Jaswantnagar circle officer Atul Pradhan, said, 'Ram Kumar has been sent to jail. Now, the police are zeroing in on other accused.'

Rita, a resident of Chak Salempur village of Jaswantnagar town, had gone missing on September 19, 2020.

A girl's charred remains were found in a millet field in the village on September 26 and acid was used to destroy her identity.

Rita's family identified her 'kalawa' (sacred thread), salwar-kurta, silver rings, red bracelet and yellow clutch.

The police went for a DNA test while the body was kept in a deep freezer of the post-mortem house. Since the report did not bring clarity, another sample was sent to Hyderabad Forensic lab on August 18, 2022. The second report too, remained inconclusive. The third test confirmed Rita's identity.

Meanwhile, Bhagwan Devi filed a complaint accusing Ram Kumar, his wife Mithilesh, their son Mohit and one Satyendra Kumar of killing her daughter. She alleged that Ram Kumar was having an extra-marital affair with her daughter.

/IANS