Noida lawyer murder: Autopsy confirms she died by strangulation
Renu Sinha died of strangulation and had scratch marks on her body, indicating she was manhandled before her death. Her husband, Nitin Singh, has been arrested.
The autopsy report on Delhi high court lawyer Renu Sinha, who was found dead in the washroom of her home in Noida’s Sector 30 on Sunday, has revealed that she died of strangulation, said police on Tuesday, adding that the woman had scratch marks on her hands, face, and neck, indicating that she was manhandled before her death.
Sinha’s husband Nitin Nath Singh was arrested early Monday morning on charges of murdering his wife after the couple allegedly got into a fight over the sale of the house they were living in on Sunday morning, police said.
He was remanded in judicial custody by late Monday, investigators added.
Noida assistant commissioner of police Rajneesh Kumar said, “According to autopsy reports, Renu Sinha died of strangulation. A few scratch marks, which are signs of manhandling, were spotted on her body.”
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Police said Singh, a 1988 Indian Information Service (IIS) batch officer, allegedly tried his best to evade police and remained hidden in a storeroom on the first floor of the house for around 12 hours after locking the main door from inside.
Asked how the police had missed a man hiding right under their noses, investigators said the storeroom had two doors – one connected to the dining hall and the other to the bedroom. Singh allegedly locked the bedroom from outside and the storeroom door from the bedroom as well, police said.
“He took a water bottle and a pack of cigarettes with him before locking himself inside the showroom. Initially, he thought that the police would leave after two or three hours, but when the personnel remained at the scene, he decided to leave around midnight,” said an investigator, asking not to be named.
Police said when they first reached Sinha’s home, they were told that the first-floor storeroom, where Singh had hidden, has remained closed since Covid after the death of his mother. So the police did not search there.
Police said they checked CCTV footage from the neighbour’s house and realised that Singh never left home. “We also sought the call detail records (CDR) of Singh’s mobile phone, and his last location was found close to his home,” said ACP Kumar.
After he was nabbed by police following a late night search of the house, he allegedly tried to mislead investigators by telling them that Sinha’s death was natural. But when police interrogated him at length, on the basis of technical evidence, he admitted to killing her, said investigators.
Quoting Singh’s statement, police said he wanted to buy a new home in Sector 6, closer to a hospital for the convenience of his wife, who was suffering from cancer and a pancreatic disease.But Sinha did not want to leave their paternal house. The relationship between the husband and wife had soured since the past few months, investigators added.
“Singh was trying to convince Sinha to let go of the house since the past two months, and on Sunday, their dispute escalated after she got to know that a broker was visiting their house and in the heated argument that followed, Singh strangled Sinha to death and later hid in the storeroom to evade the police, ” said ACP Kumar.
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