DTC bus driver’s wife, ex-wife, daughter arrested for murder conspiracy

Two others -- the contract killer, and a relative of the current wife who helped hire the contract killer -- are still on the run, the police said.

Four days after a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus driver was shot dead while he was on his motorcycle along with his 28-year-old wife and eight-year-old son in south-east Delhi’s Govindpuri, police on Sunday arrested his wife, his former wife and his 21-year-old daughter for hatching the murder conspiracy and hiring a contract killer for ₹15 lakh to execute it.

(REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

Two others -- the contract killer, and a relative of the current wife who helped hire the contract killer -- are still on the run, the police said.

Giving out the details of the case, police said the three women have been planning to kill the DTC driver, Sanjeev Kumar, for the past three years as they held him responsible for “ruining their lives”.

“His wife, Najma, was fed up with his cruel behaviour towards her, and his ex-wife, Geeta (42), and her daughter Komal (21), also blamed him for allegedly ruining their lives. They planned to kill him and divide his property among themselves,” said deputy commissioner of police (south-east) Esha Pandey.

On July 6, the DCP said, police received information from a private hospital that Sanjeev, a resident of Govindpuri, was “brought dead” to the hospital following an accident. The hospital authorities suspected it to be a case of murder and notified the police. A police team reached the hospital and learnt that Sanjeev was brought there by Najma.

The woman told the police that she, Sanjeev and their son were returning home from the nearby vegetable market when Sanjeev fell off the bike following an accident. However, Najma could not explain how the accident happened or how Sanjeev came to have a gunshot wound.

A case of murder was registered and investigation was taken up.

During the investigation, the DCP said, Najma was questioned and her statement was contradictory. She tried to mislead the investigation and told the police that a few DTC workers from the Kalkaji depot were threatening to kill Sanjeev, who was a permanent driver of the depot.

“Our inquiry did not authenticate the allegations and it appeared that she had cooked up the story to mislead the investigators. Najma was questioned again and her cellphone was also checked. The first clue in the case came when investigators found that she had taken a photo of her husband’s bike’s numberplate just a day before the murder and deleted it the same day,” said DCP Pandey.

When confronted with the deleted photo, Najma broke down and allegedly admitted to the crime. She disclosed that she was Sanjeev’s second wife and that he was “very cruel” towards her.

Najma said his first wife, Geeta, was living separately in a rented house in Dakshipuri with her son and two daughters. Around three years ago, she contacted Geeta, who gave her a cellphone through her daughter Komal so that they could remain in contact. Najma hid that phone in her neighbour’s house, the police said.

“When Geeta came to know that Sanjeev was also ruining Najma’s life, like he had hers, she conspired with Najma to kill Sanjeev and then divvy up his property. Komal too joined their conspiracy and Najma contacted her cousin, Iqbal, who helped her hire contract killer Nayum. The deal was fixed for ₹15 lakh,” said the DCP.

Police said Najma clicked a photograph of Sanjeev’s bike’s numberplate and shared it with Nayum so that he could identify the target. On July 6, Nayum and Iqbal were told that Sanjeev would be coming to the vegetable market with Najma and their son. Around 6pm, the two men tailed Sanjeev on a KTM bike and shot him, said Pandey.