Delhi: Live-in partner among 4 arrested for strangling woman over property issue

Police added they found multiple motives behind the woman’s murder, including some information she knew about the death of one of the suspects’ husbands.

Police have arrested four people, including the 26-year-old live-in partner of the victim, Vineet Panwar, in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Rohina Naz, whose body was found near a school in Karawal Nagar in northeast Delhi on April 12, officers said on Saturday.

Police line tape. Crime scene investigation. Forensic science. (Getty Images)

All the arrests, which include that of Panwar’s siblings — Parul Chaudhary and Mohit Panwar — were made last week. Another person, Irfan, 38, (single name) , was also arrested for helping dump the body, police said.

Police added they found multiple motives behind Naz’s murder, including some information she knew about the death of one of the suspects’ husbands.

Vineet was arrested on April 25 near Loni roundabout on the Delhi-UP border, said Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime).

During her interrogation, Parul, 29, revealed that Naz and Vineet often quarrelled as she pressured him to marry her. However, because she belonged to a different community, Vineet was not ready as his family opposed the union, said deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey. He said that Mohit Panwar, 34, also maintained the same motive.

However, when the crime branch team interrogated Vineet, he said that they killed Naz not only because she wanted to marry him but also because she wanted a property share.

Vineet revealed that Naz was threatening them with some information about the death of Parul’s late husband, who died on March 25, nearly 10 days after he suffered serious burns under mysterious circumstances at his Teliwara residence, a senior crime branch officer said.

“Parul and the family claimed Vidish was drunk when his body caught fire. But we will now investigate it from a murder angle,” the officer added.

Police said Naz began demanding a share of Parul’s property as Parul was the sole heir after her husband’s death. The three siblings and Naz lived in Vidish’s Teliwara house in Farsh Bazar in east Delhi. “When the three siblings decided to register the Vidish’s property in their name, she demanded a share and threatened them of going public with whatever information she had about Vidish’s death. So they decided to get rid of her,” said Tirkey.

Naz was strangled by Vineet and Parul in Teliwara on April 11. The three siblings wrapped Naz’s body in a bedsheet and put it inside a bed box. The same evening, Vineet, with the help of Parul’s friend, Irfan, 38, (single name) dumped the body near a private school in Karawal Nagar, said a police officer associated with the investigation.