Man shot dead during bid to abduct woman, couple nabbed

Shankar Choudhary, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka), identified the couple as Daulat Ram and his wife. The police withheld the woman’s name. He said they murdered Sonu Kumar because he allegedly forced Ram’s wife to elope with him after holding their son at gunpoint.

The Delhi Police on Thursday said they have solved the murder of a man whose body was found in a jute bag in a drain on the Najafgarh-Ghumanhera road on February 8 and arrested a husband and wife for the crime.

The couple took the body of the man in a rickshaw and dumped it in the drain, about a kilometre from their house. (Picture for representation only)

Shankar Choudhary, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka), identified the couple as Daulat Ram and his wife. The police withheld the woman’s name. He said they murdered Sonu Kumar because he allegedly forced Ram’s wife to elope with him after holding their son at gunpoint.

Police said a scuffle broke out between Ram and Kumar, during which Ram allegedly got hold of Kumar’s pistol and shot him dead.

Police said on Tuesday, around 10.50am, the control room received information about a body found wrapped in a jute bag that was fished out of a drain on the Najafgarh-Ghumanhera road of Jaffarpur Kalan. A passer-by had spotted the bag and called 112.

“Initially, it was difficult to identify the dead man. But a roadside shopkeeper helped us identify him as Sonu Kumar, a daily wage earner. During investigation, we learnt that Kumar’s friend Ram was missing since Monday night and so were his wife and children. We learnt that Ram had reached the house of his in-laws in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. But by the time we reached there, he had left for Delhi, reportedly to collect his belongings,” said the DCP.

Police said they laid a trap near Ram’s house in Pandwala Kalan, Jaffarpur Kalan, to arrest him. On Wednesday when Ram returned home, he was arrested. “He initially tried to mislead the police but later admitted that he and his wife together killed Kumar and dumped the body in the drain,” said Choudhary.

During questioning, Ram allegedly said he knew Kumar for 17 years and the two worked as labourers. In the last few years, Kumar developed feelings for Ram’s wife and was forcing her to elope with him, police said.

Ram told police that early Tuesday, Kumar came to their home drunk. “Kumar gained access to the room where Ram and his family were sleeping through a broken door in the rear. Kumar pointed a pistol at the couple’s son to force the woman to elope with him. A scuffle broke out between Ram and Kumar during which Ram snatched the pistol and shot Kumar dead,” the DCP said.

The couple then took the body in a rickshaw and dumped it in the drain, about a kilometre from their house. The two also threw the pistol in the drain, which police recovered on Wednesday.