A 21-year-old woman from Unnao who had accused a nursing home owner of sexual exploitation was allegedly abducted and shot dead within 48 hours of lodging the complaint, with her body dumped nearly 450 km away in Bulandshahr, police said on Wednesday.The woman had lodged a complaint against the owner of a nursing home in Unnao. (For representation)The case took a dramatic turn after investigators linked the missing woman to an unidentified body that had already been cremated as unclaimed, using a nose ring preserved during the post-mortem process.One of the two accused has confessed to the crime, while the other surrendered before police in Kanpur on Wednesday, officials said.The woman, a BA final-year student from Unnao who was also enrolled in a police sub-inspector coaching institute in Kanpur, had lodged a complaint at Sadar Kotwali on May 19 against Devkant Uttam, owner of Uttam Hospital in Sheikhpur, Unnao. According to police, she had come in contact with Uttam while undergoing treatment at the hospital. She lived with her mother in a rented accommodation in Kanpur’s Vishwabank area.According to the complaint, Uttam’s nephew and ambulance driver, Vivek Patel, contacted the woman through a mobile phone message on May 21 and asked her to meet him. After informing her mother, she left home but never returned. Her mobile phone was switched off shortly afterwards.Her mother lodged an FIR at Barra police station, naming Uttam and Patel and alleging abduction. Police subsequently registered a case of kidnapping and suspected murder.What the family and investigators in Kanpur did not know at the time was that an unidentified woman’s body had already been recovered near Khalor Stadium in Jahangirabad, Bulandshahr, on May 25. The body was mutilated beyond recognition and, after a post-mortem examination, was cremated as unclaimed. However, investigators preserved a nose ring recovered from the body and collected DNA samples before the cremation.The investigation took a breakthrough turn when Vivek Patel was traced to LLR Hospital in Kanpur, where he had been admitted after allegedly shooting himself. During questioning under police surveillance, he allegedly confessed to killing the woman along with Uttam and transporting her body in an SUV (Scorpio) before dumping it in Bulandshahr.Despite the confession, investigators initially struggled to establish that the body recovered in Bulandshahr was that of the missing woman. The crucial link came when the victim’s family identified the preserved nose ring as hers. DNA matching procedures have since been initiated to formally establish the identity of the deceased.Meanwhile, police intensified their search for Uttam. Under mounting pressure, he surrendered before police at Barra police station on Wednesday. Both accused are now in custody. Investigators said they have continued to provide misleading information regarding the circumstances of the crime.“A Barra police team has taken Patel to Bulandshahr to reconstruct the sequence of events and recover additional evidence. The vehicle used in the crime has been identified, and efforts are underway to recover it,” DCP (south) Deependra Nath Chowdhury said.Bulandshahr SP (rural) Antariksh Jain said several teams were engaged in efforts to identify the body after it was recovered.“We had preserved the nose ring and DNA samples. The family identified the nose ring, and DNA matching is now underway,” he said.DCP Chowdhury said both accused were being questioned and strict legal action would be taken against all those found guilty.