Townhall Times, New Delhi
Reporter: Bhavika Kalra
Indore is a city of dreams for thousands of students, but for one 24-year-old MBA aspirant, it became a tomb. As the police conduct the crime scene reconstruction today, the details coming out about Piyush Dhamnotiya aren’t just about a “dispute”—they are about a level of depravity that has left even hardened investigators sick to their stomachs.
The Setup: The ‘Gift’ That Was a Trap on February 10, Piyush convinced his classmate to come to his rented room in the Dwarkapuri area. He didn’t lure her there with an argument; he used “love.” He told her he had a surprise gift for her. In a twisted move, he convinced her to let him tie her hands and feet, telling her it was part of a “game” or a surprise.
The moment she was helpless, the mask slipped. Piyush was convinced she was talking to other men on dating apps. He didn’t want a breakup; he wanted an execution.
The Act: Violence Beyond Words The autopsy report is a map of pure rage. Piyush didn’t just kill her; he tortured her. He stuffed her mouth with cloth and plastic to stop her screams, then strangled her with a rope. But even that wasn’t enough. He took a knife and stabbed her in the chest with such force that the blade actually snapped off inside her body.
The Chilling Aftermath: Beer and ‘Status’ Updates This is where the story goes from a crime of passion to pure psychopathy. After the girl’s pulse stopped, Piyush didn’t panic. He didn’t run.
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The Vigil: He went out, bought a bottle of beer, and came back to the room. He sat there, drinking and staring at the body for hours.
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The Post-Mortem Assault: There are heavy allegations of necrophilia. The police have noted that the body was “mistreated” long after she had passed away.
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The Digital Execution: Perhaps the most malicious part was what he did with her phone. He didn’t throw it away. He used it to upload intimate, private videos of her to her own WhatsApp Status and sent them to their college groups. He wanted to kill her reputation while her body was still warm.
The Panvel ‘Witchcraft’ Phase When the heat got too high in Indore, Piyush fled to Panvel, Maharashtra. But he wasn’t looking for a way out; he was looking for a way back. When the Indore police finally tracked him down to a budget hotel, they didn’t find a man in hiding—they found a man performing tantra-mantra (occult rituals).
He was surrounded by incense, vermillion, and lemons. He told the cops he was watching YouTube tutorials on “how to summon the dead” because he wanted to call her spirit back to ask for forgiveness. Whether this was a genuine psychological break or a calculated move to plead insanity later is what the forensic psychologists are arguing about today.
The ‘Cold’ Confession (Feb 18, 2026) Today, as he was led through the streets by the Dwarkapuri police, there was no head hanging in shame. Piyush was seen smirking at the cameras. When asked by reporters why he did it, he reportedly muttered, “She was mine, she shouldn’t have looked elsewhere.”
What’s Next for the Case? The police are pushing for a fast-track trial. They have the broken knife, the rope, the CCTV footage of him entering the room, and the digital trail of the leaked videos. The “Blackmail” angle is also being added to the FIR, as her family revealed he had been extorting money from her for months to pay his own college fees.
Indore’s student community is currently protesting outside the campus, demanding the death penalty. They aren’t just mourning a classmate; they are realizing that the person sitting next to them in a lecture hall for a year was a monster in waiting.
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