Delhi: Ex-driver of DU assistant professor held for killing his wife
Police said the alleged accused, identified as Rakesh, used to work as a driver for the victim’s husband, Virender Kumar, who is an assistant professor teaching in Ramjas College.
A 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedly strangling and electrocuting the wife of his former employer, a Delhi University assistant professor, in Burari’s West Sant Nagar, with police saying that he held a grudge against her for removing him from the job and evicting his family from their house.Police said they are also examining the role of the victim’s in-laws after her family expressed suspicions about their involvement.
Police said the alleged accused, identified as Rakesh, used to work as a driver for the victim’s husband, Virender Kumar, who is an assistant professor teaching in Ramjas College.
According to police, Rakesh, who used to lived with his wife in the couple’s house in West Sant Nagar before being evicted in August, was arrested from the locality after a police patrol team found him acting suspicious and questioned him.
The victim, Pinky Singh, married Kumar in February this year, and moved to her in-laws’ house during the second wave of the Covid-19 in July.
Police said Rakesh allegedly killed Singh because she had evicted his family from the house, and also asked him to return her husband’s Wagon R car that he was using as a taxi to earn his livelihood. Rakesh allegedly also told police that Kumar had owed him around ₹3 lakh.
However, the victim’s family members said they also suspect the role of her in-laws in the murder, pointing out that they had filed a complaint at Burari police station in August, seeking police protection for her as they feared her in-laws and driver Rakesh may be plotting to kill her.
Deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said, “Rakesh held the woman responsible for becoming unemployed and also for evicting him and his wife from the house. So he planned to take revenge. He killed her when her husband and mother-in-law had gone to a hospital. The [murdered] woman’s 84-year-old bed-ridden father-in-law was at home, but he didn’t hear anything as he’s hearing-impaired.”
DCP Kalsi said that the murder came to light around 7pm on Monday when constable Bhim of Burari police station spotted Rakesh in the locality, on 100 Feet Road, acting suspicious and questioned him.
He allegedly confessed to the murder, following which the constable brought him to the police station.
Later, to verify Rakesh’s claims, some policemen accompanied him to the house, on the fourth floor a building, and found the victim woman lying unconscious on the bed. She was sent to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. A case of murder was registered and Rakesh was arrested, said the DCP.
During questioning, DCP Kalsi said, Rakesh allegedly disclosed that he was set on revenge and came to the house around 5.30pm, nearly an hour-and-a-half after Kumar left for the hospital with his mother. The accused claimed that he gained entry to the house as the main door was slightly ajar, and found Singh sleeping on the bed.
“Rakesh has revealed that he first strangled Singh and made her unconscious. Subsequently, he used a live wire to electrocute her... He was leaving the area when our constable caught him,” said Kalsi.
Singh’s brother, Manvir Singh, said that her sister feared for her life and often told him that she should be considered dead or in deep trouble if she did not respond to phone calls or messages.
“My sister was living in fear for the last few days and was suspecting that her in-laws were hatching a conspiracy to kill her. When she did not respond to our calls and messages for nearly three hours, we panicked and reached Burari to check on her. The presence of some police personnel outside the building confirmed that my sister was dead. The policemen did not allow us to go upstairs and see my sister’s body,” said Singh.
The brother accused Kumar and his family of allegedly conniving with Rakesh to kill his sister.
DCP Kalsi said, “We are probing the case from all aspects and all allegations will be looked into. Although Rakesh has confessed to killing the woman, we have not given a clean chit to other people associated with the victim.”