Murderer, disguised as monk, held from Delhi ashram

Police said the accused returned to his estranged wife’s house from his ancestral home in Bihar nearly 10 years after he left her

A 55-year-old man was arrested from an ashram in Qutubgarh for allegedly murdering his 50-year-old estranged wife by hitting her on the head with a hammer while she was asleep at her house in Devli Village near Neb Sarai, police said on Sunday. He disguised himself as a monk to kill the woman and took shelter at the ashram after the crime, they said.

A case of murder has been registered. (Getty Images)

Police said the accused, Pramod Jha, had returned to his estranged wife’s house from his ancestral home in Bihar’s Bariyarpur in Munger district, nearly 10 years after he left her and their children in Delhi due to marital discord, as he suspected her of having an extramarital affair.

The two of them came in contact in May, when the woman, Kiran Jha, went to attend her mother-in-law’s funeral. While the husband was taking care of his ailing mother, the woman, who worked as a caretaker at a south Delhi clinic, refused to move to Bihar. “We have reasons to believe that Jha returned to Delhi only to kill his wife, as he had surreptitiously followed her in the same train she took for Delhi from Bihar on July 31 after attending the funeral. Also, Jha had carried the hammer that he used to bludgeon his wife to death from his home town. He has disclosed that he killed his wife over suspicions of her alleged affair and her refusal to go along with him,” an investigator said.

Around 4am on August 6, the Neb Sarai police were informed about the murder of the woman at Bank Colony in Devli village. Her daughter-in-law suspected her father-in-law and a case of murder was registered, deputy commissioner of police (south) Ankit Chauna said.

Police scanned CCTV cameras in the vicinity and found Jha fleeing the area around midnight, dressed like a monk. They followed his movement, tracing the routes through auto-rickshaws, lifts on two-wheelers, and on foot across Badarpur, Jaitpur, Moladband, Meethapur, and Harinagar. Some ashrams in Delhi were also checked and photographs of the suspect were shared.

“A breakthrough was achieved when the head of an ashram at Pitampura informed that a man matching the suspect’s descriptions was staying at their Qutubgarh branch, referred by a disciple from Bihar. Immediately, a raid was conducted and Jha was arrested last week. He confessed to killing his wife. His interrogation led to the recovery of the hammer,” the investigator said.

Jha’s told police that he initially came to Delhi around 25 years ago and was involved in religious preaching, apart from working as a guard in various security agencies. After following his wife to Delhi on July 31, he went to his daughter, who brought him to her mother’s house in Devli village, where he stayed until August 5.

“The same night, an argument erupted between Jha and Kiran over her alleged affair. In a fit of rage and to seek revenge, Jha brutally killed his wife with the hammer while she was asleep,” the officer said.