Ghaziabad: A 27-year-old man strangled his 45-year-old live-in partner at their residence in Khora area of Ghaziabad in the wee hours on Friday, before surrendering at the local police station.
According to police, the accused has been identified as Pankaj Joshi, a native of Nainital in Uttarakhand, who runs a restaurant in Nehru Garden area of Khora and lived in a rented apartment.
The victim has been identified as Renu, a native of Mumbai, said police, adding that the couple had met each other on the internet and started a relationship soon.
"Pankaj and Renu first met on Facebook around a year back and started liking each other. Around a month ago, Renu came to Ghaziabad to meet Pankaj and started living with him," said Akash Tomar, Superintendent of Police (city), Ghaziabad.
Cops said that the couple used to argue regularly and a quarrel on late Thursday night culminated in the murder.
"Pankaj told police that the woman kept on pressurizing him to leave his parents and marry her. On Thursday night too, the couple had a heated argument, following which Pankaj strangled Renu with a scarf. He then reached the nearby police station and confessed the crime," added Tomar.
Policemen present at the station alerted the station house officer and other senior officers, after which Renu's body was recovered from the flat, as per Pankaj's confession.
45-year-old Renu was a married woman, who had four sons and a grandson too, said a senior police official.
She wanted to get separated from her husband, as the two were having marital issues for a long time.
"Renu wanted to marry Pankaj and kept telling him to leave his parents and marry her. However, Pankaj did not agree to the marriage, as she was several years older than him," said a police official privy to the investigation.
Cops have informed the woman's husband and sent the body for post-mortem.