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Day on, Ludhiana’s Garden City murder cracked with husband’s arrest
The accused, a resident of Ludhiana’s Garden City, was miffed over his wife mistreating his 14-year-old son from his first marriage and forcing him to do daily chores around the house.
Police cracked the Garden City murder after arresting the victim’s husband a day after her body had been found at their home with her throat slit.
Probe officials said the accused, Dadwal Kumar, was miffed over his wife mistreating his 14-year-old son from his first marriage and forcing him to do daily chores around the house.
The accused who was away in Phagwara travelled overnight and slit his wife’s throat with a paper-cutter in her sleep. Police have also recovered the blade in the murder from the accused’s possession.
Police said he had hatched a conspiracy well in advance and travelled to Phagwara on Monday morning on the pretext of seeing his ailing nephew to establish an alibi.
Sharing further details, commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the police received the information about the murder at the Garden City house in Bhamian around 6.30 am on Monday morning.
Police reached the spot and initiated an investigation. The victim’s 14-year-old stepson was first to discover her body. He raised an alarm and informed the neighbours. Later, he borrowed a mobile phone from a neighbour and called his father, who expressed shock on hearing the news.
“During questioning, Dadwal Kumar confessed to the crime. He told police that Pooja used to mistreat his son and forced her to do household work. She used to beat the teenager also. His son had complained to him several times about it and he hatched a conspiracy to kill her,” the commissioner of police said.
Detailing the sequence of events, he said, “On Monday, Kumar went to Phagwara to see his ailing nephew. He parked his bike at the office on Chandigarh road and took a bus to reach Phagwara. After reaching Phagwara, he video-called his mother-in-law to establish an alibi.”
“Later in the night, Dadwal took a bus from Phagwara and reached Ludhiana. He hired an auto from Samrala Chowk to reach home. He found the main gate of the house open, as his son had forgotten to bolt it from inside. He took a paper-cutter and slit her throat in her sleep. He cleaned up the scene and returned to Phagwara after taking a bus,” he added.
The commissioner of police said Dadwal appeared to be grief-stricken during the police investigation, but was called in for questioning as all evidence suggested the involvement of an insider. There was no sign of a struggle at the murder scene or evidence of a forced entry.
During questioning, he eventually confessed to committing the crime. Police officials said the accused’s 14-year-old son has no involvement in the murder.
Dadwal had married Pooja in 2017 after the death of his first wife due to an illness. He had a 14-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter from his first marriage. While his daughter was living with her grandmother in Bihar, his son was living with him. Dadwal has two five-year-old twin sons with Pooja.
Pooja used to offer tuitions to children at home, while her husband was an employee at Vardhman Mills.
Police had earlier registered a murder case against unidentified accused.
