Man murders wife’s 17-year-old niece, hides body in bed box in Delhi

A man and his wife have been arrested for allegedly murdering the woman’s 17-year-old niece at their home in northeast Delhi’s Tahirpur and stuffing her body in their bed box last month, police said on Monday.

A man and his wife have been arrested for allegedly murdering the woman’s 17-year-old niece at their home in northeast Delhi’s Tahirpur and stuffing her body in their bed box last month, police said on Monday.

After killing the minor girl, the couple cleaned the blood from the crime scene (the room), and slept on the single bed for the night with the girl’s body inside its box, they said. (File photo for representation)

After killing the minor girl, the couple cleaned the blood from the crime scene (the room), and slept on the single bed for the night with the girl’s body inside its box, they said.

According to the police, the man had an eye on the minor -- daughter of the woman’s sister -- who had been objecting to his advances. The man is a rickshaw-puller while his wife begs for a living.

His wife knew about it and had asked her to return to her native village in Bihar but she wanted to stay back and pursue her studies, police said. She had completed her Class 12 and was planning to study further, police said.

The girl’s refusal to leave their home led to frequent quarrels between the couple, said an investigator, who did not want to be named.

“On October 23, during an altercation, the woman told her husband kill her niece. The man then killed the girl by hitting her head with an iron rod in her asleep as his wife guarded the main door,” said the investigator.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-east) Ved Prakash Surya said the murder was discovered on October 25, when locals informed police about some foul smell emanating from the house that was locked from outside.

The girl’s aunt was in the neighbourhood when the neighbours also informed her about the foul smell. The police broke open the door and found the body in the box. The woman identified the dead girl as her niece.

The aunt was living at a neighbour’s house on the pretext that her house was locked and her husband was away.

“A case of murder was registered at the Nand Nagri police station,” DCP Surya said.

During the probe, the investigator said, the statements of the girl’s aunt and neighbours were recorded. The aunt told the police that on October 23, she had left home for begging around 5.30 am and when she returned around 12.30 pm, she found the door locked from outside.

The woman told the police that when she did not find her niece at home, she asked her husband, who said he had left her in an orphanage in Ghaziabad.

“Since the man was also missing, our team searched all orphanages in Ghaziabad but the girl was not taken to any of them on that day. Locals said the man used to make sexual advances on the minor girl. They said he had tried to force himself on her on September 28. The girl had told her aunt and a neighbour about it,” the investigator said.

As the man became the prime suspect, they started looking for him and he was caught from a bus stand in his home town in Bihar’s Madhepura on October 28. He was brought to Delhi and the iron rod used in the crime was recovered.

“His interrogation led to his wife’s arrest and both admitted to the crime,” the officer added.

During interrogation, the man said he killed the girl in a fit of rage after his wife asked him to do so, DCP Surya said.

“The duo had planned to dispose of the body and waited the entire day looking for an opportunity to remove it. When they failed, the woman asked her husband to go to their native village so that nobody suspected his involvement when the girl’s body was discovered. The woman thought that as she was handicapped (in one leg caused by polio), the neighbours and police would not suspect her,” he added.