Delhi train murders: Man says he killed wife, mother-in-law for bringing ‘disrepute’

When the two bodies were recovered on Thursday, police initially suspected they were poisoned because of froth emanating from his wife’s mouth. But post-mortem reports revealed otherwise.

The police on Monday arrested a 37-year-old man for killing his wife and mother-in-law, whose bodies were found in a stationary train in east Delhi last week.

The accused, Pushpender, told police that he chose between committing suicide and killing his wife and mother-in-law, who were bringing “bad reputation” to his family at their native village in Bulandshahr.

The accused, Pushpender, told police that he chose between committing suicide and killing his wife and mother-in-law, who were bringing “bad reputation” to his family at their native village in Bulandshahr.

Pushpender told the police that his wife, 35-year-old Nishu, and her mother Mayadevi, 55, lived with him and were “mentally disturbed”. They would allegedly disappear from home without informing anyone and at times would not return even in the nights. “The two women became the topic of gossip among the villagers. Pushpender felt his family’s reputation was getting tarnished,” said Parwaiz Ahmed, DCP (Railways).

Pushpender was also tired of his wife’s “quarrelsome and aggressive behaviour”, said the officer. The accused told the police that first he contemplated killing himself. But since he couldn’t gather the courage, he decided to kill the women.

They changed three trains before reaching Shahdara railway station on Thursday. He then lured the women to walk with him along the railway tracks where he had allegedly thought of killing the women in the bushes. “But on the way he came across the Mahananda Express that had been stationed for the past few days because of the floods in its route in the eastern states,” said the DCP.

First he tricked his wife into entering one of the compartments with him. Once inside, he pushed her head to the wall, killing her on the spot. He then laid her body on a seat before targeting his mother-in-law.

Pushpender allegedly used her saree to strangle her to death before leaving her on another seat in the adjacent compartment. He then returned to his native village.

When the two bodies were recovered on Thursday, police initially suspected they were poisoned because of froth emanating from his wife’s mouth. But post-mortem reports revealed otherwise.

The accused initially managed to trick the police into believing he had no role in the murder. But investigations in his hometown, at Delhi’s railway stations and electronic surveillance on his recent activities revealed he was in the national capital on the day of the murder.

He was arrested and charged with killing the two women. “He has shown no remorse or regret for the murders. He says it was either him or the two women,” said an investigator.