Ludhiana woman murdered by husband was beaten up before being strangled

The family’s domestic help told the police that the victim, Aarti Arora, and her husband, Harmesh Arora, 50, had strained relations and quarrels were frequent

Aarti Arora, 48, who was allegedly murdered by her husband with the connivance of their son, daughter and daughter-in-law on Friday, was brutally beaten up and tortured before being strangled to death, the autopsy report has revealed.

Aarti Arora, the victim (HT File)

The team of doctors that conducted the post-mortem examination at the Ludhiana civil hospital on Saturday confirmed that Aarti was strangled to death with a piece of wire. Multiple internal and external injuries on her body also revealed that she was beaten up and tortured.

Continuing their probe on Saturday, police questioned the family’s domestic help, who revealed that Aarti and her husband, Harmesh Arora, 50, had strained relations and for the past few days, arguments had become common at their Atam Nagar house in Model Town.

Aarti’s brother Rajan Kundra, who had contacted the police after her neighbour saw her family dragging her body into a car, had stated in his complaint that his sister was being mistreated by her husband, son, daughter and daughter-in-law. His brother-in-law had been beating her up and also not allowed her any food for two days.

After Aarti’s neighbours alerted him, he had also asked his two male cousins to rush to her house, while he drove to the hospital. At the house, his cousins found that Harmesh had fled and his son, daughter and daughter-in-law had taken Aarti to hospital, claiming she had attempted suicide by hanging. She was declared brought dead there.

“Harmesh has been apprehended, while his son Lovish Arora, 26, daughter Ritika Arora, 20, and daughter-in-law Saina, alias Lovisha Arora, are at large. They are all facing a case of murder and will be nabbed soon,” said inspector Inderjt Singh, station house officer (SHO), Model Town police station, adding that they will get a detailed autopsy report of the victim on Monday.

All for property?

Aarti was the whole-time director of the family’s factory, Arora Alloys, located in Phase 7, Focal Point, according to her brother Rajat Kundra, who lives in Ludhiana at Karnail Singh Nagar.

In his police complaint, Kundra had shared that Aarti’s husband Harmesh was the factory’s managing director, while their elder son, Parmesh Arora, who is settled abroad, is the director.

Aarti also ran a boutique, Aarti Embellishments, in Atam Nagar. Harmesh had tried to remove her from the company as the whole-time director and tried to grab her shares by forging her signatures, and was also eyeing her boutique, Kundra had alleged, while demanding a fair investigation in the case.