Woman’s family in Delhi link murder to harassment by co-worker

Police identified the woman as Jyoti Saluja, who worked as a delivery agent for an e-commerce company for the past two months

A 35-year-old woman scooter rider was shot dead near Meera Bagh traffic signal on Outer Ring Road in outer Delhi on Monday evening by two unidentified men, who fled with her two-wheeler but left behind their countrymade pistol, her cellphone and handbag containing cash and identity cards, police said.

The officers said the case, registered at the Paschim Vihar (west) police station, is being investigated from “robbery”, “mistaken identity”, “crime of passion” and “personal enmity” angles.

Police identified the woman as Jyoti Saluja, who worked as a delivery agent for an e-commerce company since the past two months, and said she was on her way home to Nihal Vihar when she was shot in the abdomen from close range near Metro Pillar number 73. There is no CCTV camera near the spot, they said.

Senior police officers termed the murder a “blind case” as no leads pertaining to the killers or their motive could be ascertained till late Tuesday.

The officers said the case, registered at the Paschim Vihar (west) police station, is being investigated from “robbery”, “mistaken identity”, “crime of passion” and “personal enmity” angles. The involvement of someone known to the woman has not been ruled out, they said.

The family members of the woman alleged that she may have been killed by or at the behest of her team leader in the company, who, they claimed, was purportedly sexually harassing her. Police, however, said they ruled him out as a potential suspect after questioning him.

The family said that around 10 days ago, Jyoti had lodged a complaint against him with the human resources (HR) department of the company. They said authorities had warned and suspended the team leader and initiated an inquiry into her complaint.

“That senior colleague had threatened Jyoti with dire consequences for ruining his professional career. We strongly suspect that he could be behind her murder,” said Jyoti’s sister-in-law, Radhika Chhabra.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer) Harendra Kumar Singh, however, said they questioned the man and ruled him out as a suspect. They also verified his antecedents as well as his location at the time of the crime.

“We looked into this harassment angle but did not find anything substantial that could confirm the involvement of the team leader. He has been ruled out as a suspect,” said DCP Singh.

What happened and how

DCP Singh said Jyoti had finished her day’s work, submitted the day’s collection at the office and was returning home when she was shot dead.

“Jyoti was riding a white scooter and had taken a U-turn at Meera Bagh traffic signal. Prima facie, it appears that a few metres ahead towards Peeragarhi, suspects stopped her scooter and shot her in the abdomen. They threw their gun on the road and fled on Jyoti’s scooter. They did not take her cellphone or bag, which gives us reason to believe that robbery was not the prime motive,” added Singh.

Jyoti’s husband, Deepak Saluja, who runs a plastic items business, said he was asleep at home when someone called him from his wife’s phone around 6.30pm and informed him that she had been shot by two men. The caller asked the family to go to Sehgal Neo Hospital. The family reached the hospital and was in the process of shifting her to another private hospital, when she succumbed to the gunshot wound.

“I don’t know who killed her and why. We don’t have enmity with anyone. She never told me about any threats she had been facing or receiving. We hope that the police catch the killer and find out why she was killed,” said Saluja.

Jyoti is survived by her husband, two daughters, aged 17 and 14 years, and a nine-year-old son. The family rents a two-bedroom flat on the top floor of a five-storey building in Gym Wali Gali in Nihal Vihar. She earned between ₹400 and ₹500 a day as a delivery agent for the e-commerce company.

Jyoti’s murder comes a day after an 88-year-old woman was murdered at her home in north-east Delhi’s Karawal Nagar by unidentified assailants who allegedly made away with cash and valuables worth lakhs of rupees. The woman, Shanti Devi, lived alone in a single-storey, eight-bedroom house after her husband Om Prakash Sharma died in January 2018. Her family members alleged that her body was found bound and gagged on a bed. There was no breakthrough in that case till Tuesday.

According to Delhi Police statistics, 277 cases of murder were reported till July 17 in 2022, which was 42 cases more than the murders reported during the same period in 2021.