Bathinda chartered accountant held for murder of woman
To project the incident as a robbery-gone-wrong case, the accused took away his wife’s ornaments, a DVR box, a wi-fi modem and the victim’s mobile.
Cracking the case of murder of a woman, Kanika Gupta, and the robbery at her house in Kamala Nehru Colony last week on Saturday, police have arrested her husband and another person. Inspector general of police (IGP) Bathinda zone, Mukhwinder Singh Chhina, on Wednesday, said the victim’s husband, Anil Gupta, who is a chartered accountant, and his friend, Rakesh Kumar, have been arrested.
Stolen jewellery, knife and gloves used in murder, digital video recorder of close circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed in the house and a burnt wi-fi modem have been recovered from them. The IGP said that after divorcing his first wife, Anil had married Kanika two years back. They have a one-year-old son, but their relations were not cordial.
“Anil was a habitual gambler and his wife used to ask him to stop. Irked over this, Anil planned to murder her and live an independent life. He hired Rakesh, who runs a business of green fodder for animals, and is a master of economics, at ₹5 lakh. Anil promised Rakesh that he will not have to pay ₹1.25 lakh that the latter had borrowed,” he said. “Victim opened the gate for Rakesh as she knew him, who said that he was looking for a rented accommodation in the vicinity and is waiting for somebody. He then murdered Kanika by strangulating her with her dupatta and slitting her throat with a knife,” he added.
To project the incident as a robbery-gone-wrong case, he took away her ornaments, a DVR box, a wi-fi modem and the victim’s mobile. Police cracked the case as cash in the alimrah was intact while Rakesh couldn’t answer questions related to his search for a rented house in the area.
Police recovered the DVR box from the Bathinda branch of Sirhind canal but couldn’t recover the victim’s mobile. Anil had already stolen some jewellery fearing that Rakesh will keep some stolen jewellery with him and had falsely reported a theft of ₹1 lakh cash from the house.