PUNE: A 22-year-old woman engineering student who went missing on March 30 from Pune in Maharashtra has been found murdered in the state's Ahmednagar district, a police official said.

She was allegedly kidnapped by three persons, including a college friend, for ransom and later strangled, the official said on Sunday.

The woman's body was found in Ahmednagar on Sunday, he said, adding the three accused have been arrested.

"The student was pursuing engineering from a college in Wagholi area here. On March 29, a male college friend and two others met her and dropped her at her hostel. On March 30, they took her to Ahmednagar. They sought a ransom of Rs 9 lakh from her parents. They then strangled her, buried the body on the outskirts of Ahmednagar and removed the SIM card of her cellphone," he said.

As her family members could not establish contact with her, they came to the college and hostel, but when they did not find her, they filed a missing complaint with police, the official said.

Later, the accused sent a message to her parents demanding a ransom of Rs 9 lakh.

The family then alerted the police who zeroed-in on the three accused through technical analysis, he said.

After being apprehended, the three persons told the police about the crime committed by them, the official said.

"We have arrested all the three accused and further probe is on," he said.