Murderer, taken for trial, jumps to death off court building

Mahender Singh, who has two children and is going through a divorce, felt no remorse about killing his girlfriend but was very troubled about spending the rest of his life in jail, said police

A 32-year-old scrap dealer, who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death in Faridabad on Wednesday, died by suicide at the local court on Friday when he was produced before the magistrate following his arrest. Police said the magistrate was hearing the case, when the suspect pushed aside the policemen and advocates, ran to the balcony and jumped to his death from the sixth floor of the courthouse.

When police teams took Mahender Singh before the judge and started narrating the incidents, he pushed them aside, ran towards the balcony and jumped from the sixth floor. (Representative Image/Reuters)

Narender Kadiyan, deputy commissioner of police (NIT), said the woman, identified by a single name as Roshni (19), was found lying badly wounded on the roadside in Mujesar area early Thursday morning. She suffered severe injuries and multiple fractures to her arms and legs. “The woman died during treatment on Thursday evening and a murder case was registered against the suspect, identified as Mahender Singh of Sector 23A, at the Mujesar police station,” he said.

Police said Mahender allegedly tried his best to destroy all evidence but was arrested after the victim, before dying, told her brother that it was Mahender who brutally assaulted her and left her for dead on the roadside.

According to the victim’s brother Kishan, Roshini left home on Wednesday morning for work but did not return home until late evening following which they called her multiple times but the calls went unanswered. “We called her more than 30 times and later, her phone came as switched off. This had never happened before and we got a bit worried; but we thought she must have gone to her friend’s place and would return by next morning,” he said.

Around 5am Thursday, Kishan received a call from an unknown person, who informed him that Roshni was lying injured on the roadside and was unable to talk. “I reached the spot and found her lying in a pool of blood. She was badly wounded and she narrated her ordeal to me and told me that it was Mahender who had brutally assaulted her with rods and stones,” he said.

Kishan said Mahinder was married and had two children. His wife and children lived in a village in Uttar Pradesh and the couple was going through a divorce, he said.

Based on his statement, police registered a case of murder against Mahender and formed five teams to nab him. DCP Kadiyan said Mahender was arrested from Ballabhgarh bus stand on Friday.

Explaining the motive for the murder, police said Mahender noticed Roshni getting close to another man and suspected them of having an affair. The two quarrelled over this a few times and when Mahender failed to convince her to stop talking to that man, he decided to kill her, said police, adding that Mahender admitting to killing the woman, by beating her brutally and smashing her head with a stone, said police.

Police said Mahender and Roshni met three years ago while working together in a private company. “He wanted to marry Roshini and was quite possessive about her. But he had to wait as his divorce was not finalised,” said Kadiyan.

The DCP said during questioning, Mahender revealed that he smashed her mobile phone thinking that would erase all call details and history. “The suspect was seen moving with the victim in footage recovered from three CCTV cameras in Sector 23A and Mujesar To ensure that neighbours don’t report the matter to police, he took her to an isolated spot nearby and assaulted her brutally with iron rods and stones. He hit her on head with stones to kill her and dumped her on the roadside, thinking her to be dead,” he said.

Police said Mahender felt no remorse about the murder, but was troubled about spending the rest of his life in jail. “When police teams produced him before the judge and were narrating the incident, he pushed them aside and ran towards the balcony and jumped off from the sixth floor of the courthouse. He died on the spot and doctors declared him brought dead at the hospital,” he said.

Police said they have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and an investigation is underway.