Woman killed by live-in partner, two others in south Delhi

A senior police officer said they cracked the case after they caught the lie of one of the suspects who called the control room and tried to mislead investigators about witnessing a murder “by two unknown persons”, after carrying out the crime.

A 22-year-old man was arrested along with his two friends for allegedly killing his 30-year-old live-in partner in a forested area near Rajpur Khurd village in south Delhi’s Maidan Garhi on Sunday.

Police said the suspects allegedly strangled the woman with her dupatta, left her body in the wooded area and fled. (Representational image)

A senior police officer said they cracked the case after they caught the lie of one of the suspects who called the control room and tried to mislead investigators about witnessing a murder “by two unknown persons”, after carrying out the crime.

Police said the suspects -- identified as Anuj Kumar, 22, Ramzan Khan, 32, and Naushad, 21 -- allegedly strangled the woman with her dupatta, left her body in the wooded area and fled.

One of them reached home, called the police and informed them that he had seen two men strangling a woman to death in the jungle near Rajpur Khurd village, police said.

Kumar was in a live-in relationship with the woman, the police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said that the three planned the woman’s murder two days ago as she was against Kumar’s relationship with another woman and opposed their plans to get married.

DCP Thakur said that police received a call regarding the body of a woman found in a forested area behind Rajpur Khurd village around 6.30pm on Sunday.

Initially, the caller stated that he is an alcohol addict who saw “two men strangling a woman with her dupatta” when he was drinking in the jungle.

“The caller told us that he was scared and ran away to his house, from where he later called the police,” said the DCP, adding that a murder case was registered and teams were formed to identify and nab the suspects.

During the investigation, the police scanned CCTV cameras installed in the neighbourhood and found that the woman had come to the jungle with two men on a bike from the side of Gosala road. The CCTV footage showed the caller, identified as Ramzan Khan, also going to the jungle during the same time.

“When confronted with the video footage, Khan broke down and confessed to his involvement in the crime. His interrogation led to the arrest of Anuj Kumar and Naushad and the recovery of the bike used in the crime,” said DCP Thakur.

Kumar’s interrogation revealed that he befriended the woman around two years ago and eloped with her.

Though they were in a live-in relationship, Kumar was also in a relationship with another woman, who was also pressuring him to marry her.

Two days ago, Kumar eloped with the second woman but her family members located them and asked him to leave his live-in partner, the police said.

“Kumar shared his problems with Khan and Naushad and the three planned to kill his live-in partner. Kumar and Naushad lured her to the jungle, where Khan was already present. They strangled her to death and left her body there,” added the DCP.