Live-in couple found dead in Gurugram's Sushant Lok-1 apartment

Police said the couple, both aged 29 years, had been living in the apartment for the last 18 months. The man was a chef with a five-star hotel in Delhi’s RK Puram and the woman worked at a food chain outlet in Gurugram.

The bodies of a live-in couple were found decomposing inside their rented apartment, which was locked from the inside, in Sushant Lok 1 on Monday, police said, adding they suspected the two had passed away at least 36 hours before being discovered.

Live-in couple found dead in Sushant Lok-1 apartment

Police said they found the man hanging and the woman lying on the bed in the same room.

Sanjeev Balhara, assistant commissioner of police, said that they are probing if the man murdered the woman before he took his own life. “We haven’t recovered a suicide note from the spot. We are probing if anyone had spare keys to the apartment and are waiting for the autopsy report before drawing any conclusion,” he said.

Police said the couple, both aged 29 years, had been living in the apartment for the last 18 months. The man was a chef with a five-star hotel in Delhi’s RK Puram and the woman worked at a food chain outlet in Gurugram.

Poonam Hooda, the station house officer of Sushant Lok police station, said that they received information from the man’s cousin around 11.30am that he was not answering the doorbell and there was a foul smell emanating from the apartment. “A team from the Sushant Lok police station reached the spot, broke open the door and found both the bodies in the bedroom. Prima facia it appeared that man had either strangled the woman or poisoned her, and then taken his own life,” she said.

Balhara said the man’s cousin told the police he came to check on the couple on Monday after the man’s colleagues informed him that he had not been responding to their calls and messages. “They gave him the apartment address because he did not know where the couple lived,” he said.

Police said prima facie it did not appear that the couple was in distress. They were socially active and often invited friends over for parties, their neighbours said.

“This is a case of unnatural death. We are trying to ascertain the circumstances. As of now, an inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been initiated,” Balhara said, adding that the bodies had been preserved in the mortuary.

An autopsy would be conducted once the couple’s families claimed the bodies, he said.

Police said that neighbours had last seen the couple on Saturday evening. A CCTV camera recording also showed the couple near their apartment on Saturday, they added.

One of the couple’s neighbours, who did not wish to be named, said that they learnt about the couple’s death only when the police came and recovered the bodies.

Police said that the couple had a part-time domestic help. “We are questioning her to find out why she did not inform anyone when she found the house locked from the inside and the couple unreachable over the last two days,” said Balhara.

Police said they found the couple’s mobile phones on a table next to the bed and sent them to Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhuban to retrieve information.