East Delhi: Man held for killing wife over property

New Delhi: Four days after a 50-year-old woman was found dead at her house in east Delhi’s Gagan Vihar, police on Sunday arrested the victim’s 53-year-old husband who allegedly stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors over a property dispute, officials said on Monday

New Delhi: Four days after a 50-year-old woman was found dead at her house in east Delhi’s Gagan Vihar, police on Sunday arrested the victim’s 53-year-old husband who allegedly stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors over a property dispute, officials said on Monday.

He was caught near Mathura railway station in Uttar Pradesh while attempting to flee to Nepal, police said (Photo for representation)

Police identified the suspect as Kamal Singh, an electronics and communication engineer. Soon after murdering his wife Koman Singh, Kamal locked the house and fled the scene. He was caught near Mathura railway station in Uttar Pradesh while attempting to flee to Nepal, police said, adding that ₹12.75 lakh was recovered from him.

“Kamal told police that he wanted his wife’s Jagatpuri property, which she had received from her grandfather, to be registered in his name. However, Komal wanted it registered as joint property in both their names. The couple often quarreled over the property dispute,” said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Rajender Prasad Meena.

Joint Commissioner of Police (eastern range) Ajit Kumar Singla said that around 9.15pm on July 30 at, the couple’s son Gaurav Singh, who is an MBBS from Lucknow and currently preparing for a medical entrance examination, returned from a library in Noida and found the house locked.

Police said Gaurav opened the main gate using his keys and found his mother lying in a pool of blood in the drawing room. He informed the police. The injured woman was rushed to a nearby hospital, where the attending doctor declared her brought dead.

“A blood-stained pair of scissors, suspected to be the weapon of the offence, was recovered from the crime scene. A murder case was registered at the Jagatpuri police station, and 10 teams were formed to arrest the woman’s husband, who became the prime suspect as he was missing from the house. Gaurav and his sister, Gaurika Singh, employed as a German language trainer in Noida, told investigators that they saw their father quarreling with their mother in the morning over the property,” said Singla.

During the probe, CCTV footage analysis revealed that Kamal withdrew ₹7 lakh from his bank accounts shortly before fleeing the city. Through technical investigation, his movement from Delhi to Gorakhpur was ascertained. Later, he was tracked near Mathura railway station from where he was arrested on Sunday with ₹12.75 lakh cash, the DCP said.

He added that Kamal confessed that he premeditated the murder due to the dispute, purchased the weapon from Hari Nagar, and even attempted to dispose of it after the murder. “Kamal said he was influenced by the Hollywood movie The Staircase, believing that disposing of the weapon would help him evade police investigation,” added Meena.