Swiss woman suffocated with plastic sheet: Police

The announcement on Monday is at odds with an earlier statement by investigators, when they said that the victim was strangled to death by Gurpreet Singh.

A 36-year-old Swiss national, whose chained body was dumped outside a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) school in Tilak Nagar in west Delhi on October 20, was likely suffocated to death using a plastic sheet, police officers aware of the case said on Monday after receiving the preliminary report of the victim’s autopsy.

Police said Singh allegedly killed Berger inside his car on October 18 at Janakpuri. (FILE)

The announcement on Monday is at odds with an earlier statement by investigators, when they said that the victim, Nina Berger, was strangled to death by Gurpreet Singh, the accused, in his Hyundai Santro car.

A senior police officer associated with the case, declining to be named, said the recovery of a large plastic sheet from the car in which the victim’s body was hidden for several hours after her murder further adds credence to the possibility that it was used in suffocating Berger.

According to police, Singh met Berger, a Zurich-based lawyer, while on a trip to Switzerland, and the two became friends. On his insistence that she visit India, the police said citing Singh’s statement, the woman arrived in Delhi on October 11. Singh worked in the gemstones business, said officers.

Police said Singh allegedly killed Berger inside his car on October 18 at Janakpuri by tying her limbs and head with an iron chain, locking it, and then suffocating her using the plastic sheet.

Singh then allegedly left the body inside the car — which had tinted windscreens — and parked the vehicle at Vishnu Garden, before the foul smell emitted by the putrefying body forced him to dump the body in Tilak Nagar on October 20. The car was seen in surveillance footage, leading to Singh being identified and arrested later that day.

“The last remains of the deceased have been handed over today to the person authorised by the Switzerland embassy,” deputy commissioner of police (west) Vichitra Veer said.

The investigator quoted above said Singh, in his interrogation, revealed that he tricked Berger into wearing the iron chains and plastic sheet after taking her on a “surprise drive”.

“Singh got the woman into chains and the plastic sheet by promising to show her a magic trick. He said that he would utter a few mantras and snap his finger which would cause the chains and the sheet to come off immediately,” said the officer.

Instead, Singh allegedly suffocated the woman using the plastic sheet, even as the chains prevented her from fighting back or freeing herself, the officer said, citing the statements of the accused made during his interrogation. Her neck bone was found fractured, possibly while attempting to fight back, the officer said.

While police initially said that Singh killed Berger after she refused to marry him, investigators said that the subsequent probe has thrown up other possible motives behind the murder. A second police officer said that some of the angles that investigators are probing include whether Singh was angry with Berger for being in a relationship with another man, whether it was a revenge for money that he claims Berger owed him, or whether there is a human trafficking element to the murder.