Brother-in-law among 3 held for suspected murder of 37-year-old woman in Gurugram's Sohna

The victim was found dead inside the bathroom of her house with her limbs tied together and several layers of masking tape covering the mouth and nose.

Days after a 37-year-old woman was found dead inside a house in Gurugram’s Sohna, police arrested three people, including her brother-in-law for allegedly murdering her and ransacking her residence to make it look like a burglary gone wrong, officials said on Tuesday.

A preliminary investigation found that one of the accused wanted to sell a 1,300 square yard family property in Sohna. (Parveen Kumar/ HT Photo/ Representational)

Police identified the suspects as Sandeep, a 35-year-old resident of Sohna’s Daulha who has been court martialled by the army; Anuj (29) from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh; and Avnish (30) from Roorkee.

Crime branch teams arrested Sandeep from Daulha on Monday, while the two others were arrested from Roorkee on Tuesday, said officials.

Masking tape, suffocated to death

The victim, Neetu, was found dead inside the bathroom of her house with her limbs tied together and several layers of masking tape covering the mouth and nose on October 16. It was suspected that she suffocated to death.

He rushed her to a hospital where doctors declared her dead. A murder case was then registered against unidentified suspects at Sadar Sohna police station, they added.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime) Naveen Sharma said Sandeep is Prashant’s cousin. He was dismissed from service by the army in 2023 while he was posted in Roorkee for defrauding civilians.

A preliminary investigation found that he wanted to sell a 1,300 square yard family property in Sohna and had even taken an advance from a potential buyer six months ago, the ACP said.

Even though Prashant had agreed to a deal, Neetu had objected to the sale. “This was his motive to kill Neetu. She was a hurdle in selling the land,” the ACP said.

Sandeep hired Anuj and Avnish to kill her. On October 16, he picked up the two on his motorcycle and took them to the Sohna residence. While Avnish kept a watch outside, the other two snuck in around 10.05am and overpowered her. They covered her mouth and nose with masking tapes and tied her limbs before strangling her inside the bathroom, police said.

The two were inside for almost 44 minutes and then fled with Avnish after ransacking the house to make the murder look like a burglary.