Delhi man held for killing ‘pregnant’ girlfriend, burying body in Haryana

The woman’s family said that she was pregnant and they were not against their marriage, but the man refused to marry her, claiming his parents did not approve of the relationship

NEW DELHI

The man was arrested on Wednesday in an unrelated case. (Representative photo)

A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly murdering his girlfriend and burying her body in a field in Rohtak, Haryana, on Monday as she was pressurising him to marry her, police said on Thursday.

The woman’s family said that she was pregnant and they were not against their marriage, but the man refused to marry her, claiming his parents did not approve of the relationship. However, police said they are awaiting the autopsy reports of the body to confirm whether she was pregnant.

“During sustained interrogation, the accused confessed to killing the victim and burying her body in a field in Rohtak’s Madina village,” deputy commissioner of police (outer) Sachin Sharma said.

The accused was identified as Sanju alias Salim (identified only by a single name by police), and the victim was Sonia Kumari, both residents of Nangloi.

Kumari and Sanju were in a relationship for the past year-and-a-half, her brother Manish, 22, said. “About two months ago, we got to know that she was pregnant. We asked her what she wanted to do and she said that she’ll get married to Sanju and we agreed; but, she said that his parents did not approve of the relationship,” Manish said.

Manish alleged that Sanju asked Kumari to get an abortion, but she did not agree and said she wanted to keep the baby.

The woman’s family said that on Karwa Chauth, she visited Sanju to press for marriage. The next day, on Monday, Kumari left her house around 4am with a few belongings and cash. “We started calling her but her phone was switched off. We called Sanju but he didn’t take our call initially. Eventually, he picked up and said that Kumari was with him but she didn’t want to speak to us,” Manish said.

Manish said he called Sanju around 11pm on Monday, but got the same response. Upon hearing some background noise, he got suspicious and visited the police station to file a missing person complaint, but said that police did not register his complaint.

He said that on Tuesday, he visited Sanju’s house and only then did he find out his religion and that his name was Salim. He said that Sanju’s parents told them they had disowned him.

Manish said that on Wednesday, he received a call from Paschim Vihar police station and an officer asked him if he knew Sanju. “He was caught riding a bike without registration number and he had my father’s Aadhaar card which my sister had taken,” Manish said.

Manish then visited Paschim Vihar police station along with Nangloi police station staff and brought him to Nangloi. “Initially, he said that my sister didn’t want to talk to us. When police officers asked him firmly, he confessed to having strangled her and burying her body in Rohtak with the help of his two friends,” Manish said.

DCP Sharma said the woman’s brother approached them on Thursday and said that his sister was missing. “He raised suspicion on a man living nearby who the woman was friends with for over a year,” he said.

Sharma said that the woman’s phone was found switched off and the accused, Sanju, was arrested along with his friend Pankaj Kumar, 23.

According to the police, Sanju said he and his friends, Kumar and Ritik (who goes by a single name), hired a car and took along the woman to Rohtak, where they killed her and buried her body in an open field.

DCP Sachin said a case under relevant sections has been registered and the probe is ongoing. “A team was sent to Rohtak where at the instance of accused persons, dead body of victim was recovered,” he said.