Man kills lover in Delhi even as her kids sleep in the next room

Police said that the suspect, Anil Sahu alias Arjun, 25, was identified after the woman’s older child was able to tell investigators his name

A 26-year-old woman was strangled to death at her home in outer Delhi’s Narela in the early hours of Saturday while her two children slept in an adjoining room, police officers aware of the case said on Sunday, adding that the victim’s lover has been arrested for the murder.

The woman lived with her husband and two children in a rented home in Narela. (Representational Image)

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Police said that the suspect, Anil Sahu alias Arjun, 25, was identified after the woman’s older child, a five-year-old boy, was able to tell investigators his name. He was then nabbed from the Narela railway station on Saturday night as he prepared to flee the city, they said.

“Arjun was found involved in 10 cases of theft and snatching registered in Hari Nagar and Rajouri Garden police station. He has been booked for murder,” said Ravi Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (outer-north).

Giving details about the case, officers said that the woman lived with her husband and two children in a rented home in Narela. The woman’s husband worked night shifts at a factory, and she and Arjun had been having an affair for the past several months.

“Arjun wanted to marry the woman and was wooing her to break away from her husband,” said an investigator associated with the case, declining to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Of late, however, Arjun suspected that the woman was speaking to another man, the investigator said. “Arjun is a bad character (a person who has involvement in several cases) and was prone to violent bouts of anger,” he said.

Police said Arjun allegedly murdered the woman in the early hours of Saturday, soon after her husband left for work. They said the children found nothing amiss about his entering the house as they were used to seeing him at home.

“The children went to sleep, following which Arjun began questioning the woman about her other alleged relationship. That led to a quarrel between them, and Arjun strangled her and left the house,” the investigator quoted above said.

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When the victim’s husband returned home on Saturday morning, the investigator said he found his wife’s body on the floor, and his children crying. He informed the police, who checked CCTV footage and spoke to the children, and her son told officers Arjun’s name.

“The woman and the victim had also spoken over phone on Friday evening. Once his identity was confirmed, we were helped by informers and the suspect’s phone location to arrest him from the Narela railway station on Saturday night,” said the investigator.