Kanpur: A man, Sumit Singh, was arrested along with his accomplice, Dharmendra Kumar, after a police encounter in Mahoba district on Wednesday.The victim, was scheduled to marry on July 7. On Monday night, she left late at night after her family members fell asleep. Next morning she was missing.Her family launched a search and fpound her body near a hillside about 300 metres from her home. Her face bore several injury marks.Additional SP Vandana Singh, Kotwali police station in-charge Manish Kumar Pandey, and a forensic team reached the spot and investigated. The post-mortem report confirmed that she was beaten and strangled to death. The victim’s brother, a constable in Sonbhadra district, said his sister studied up to Class XII and her marriage was scheduled on July 7.An FIR for murder was registered against Dharmendra Kumar, a resident of Daharaa, and Sumit Singh of Mavaeekhurd, on the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s father. SP Shashank Singh formed four police teams to crack the case. Police seized the victim’s mobile phone and reviewed CCTV footage, which yielded crucial leads.On Wednesday morning, acting on the suspects’ location obtained through surveillance, police launched a checking operation on the Daharaa road. During the operation, two individuals arriving on a motorcycle attempted to flee on seeing police. When surrounded, both opened fire on the police team. One pellet hit Kotwali in-charge Manish Kumar Pandey.When police retaliated the accused got injured in the leg and were arrested.During interrogation, Sumit disclosed that he was in love with the woman but when his wife learnt of the affair, she left him. Police said he was enraged over his girlfriend’s marriage. He conspired with Dharmendra to murder her.Late at night, he lured her out on the pretext of meeting her after which he strangled her to death and dumped the body in the forest.SP Shashank Singh said CCTV footage and the mobile phone recovered from the victim provided key leads, and that Sumit was the main accused. Police recovered the scarf used in the crime, a motorcycle, three mobile phones, two country-made pistols, and cartridges from the accused.