Nagpur: What was initially believed to be a case of suicide has taken a chilling turn, exposing a brutal and cold-blooded murder in the heart of Mankapur area of Nagpur. The mysterious death of 23-year-old Prachi Hemraj Khapekar, a resident of Plot No. 31, Rajlaxmi Society, behind Prasad Vihar, Collector Colony, Godhani, has sent shockwaves through the area after post-mortem findings revealed that she was murdered and not driven to suicide, as was earlier suspected.
On January 19, 2026, between 11 am and 11.30 am, Prachi was found hanging in the bedroom on the upper floor of her house. Following information provided by her mother, Rukmini Hemraj Khapekar (55), Mankapur Police had initially registered an accidental death (ADR), treating the incident as a suspected suicide.
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21 Jan 2026
However, the case dramatically unravelled after the autopsy conducted at Mayo Hospital. In the preliminary post-mortem report, doctors categorically opined that Prachi’s death was caused due to a severe head injury, completely ruling out suicide as the primary cause.
Medical findings suggest that an unidentified person attacked Prachi with a weapon, delivering a fatal blow to her head, killing her on the spot. Shockingly, investigators believe that the accused then staged the murder as a suicide by hanging her body, in a calculated attempt to mislead the police and destroy crucial evidence.
“This was a deliberate act to camouflage murder as suicide,” a senior police officer said, adding that the manner in which the body was positioned pointed towards tampering with the crime scene.
Based on the complaint lodged by Police Sub-Inspector Uddhav Pokharkar, the Mankapur Police have now registered a murder case against an unknown accused. The offence has been booked under Sections 103(1), 238(a) and 238(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The case has been registered by Woman Assistant Police Inspector Khobragade.
Police have launched an intensive investigation to identify the killer and reconstruct the sequence of events. Teams are examining forensic evidence, questioning family members and neighbours, and scanning possible motives behind the gruesome crime.
What began as a presumed suicide has now emerged as a heinous murder masked by deception, raising disturbing questions about who killed the young woman, and why. Further investigation is underway.
