Mystery over couple’s death in locked flat in Delhi

A 43-year-old bureaucrat associated with the defence ministry and his wife, a classical dancer, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their government flat in south Delhi’s Andrews Ganj on Friday. HT reports.

A 43-year-old bureaucrat associated with the defence ministry and his wife, a classical dancer, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their government flat in south Delhi’s Andrews Ganj on Friday.

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Yashkar Sinha, a deputy director with the Directorate General of Medical Services, was found charred to death in the kitchen while Archana Sinha was lying on the floor in the bedroom with a severe head injury.

Despite ruling out foul play in the deaths at the Hudco Place Transit Flats apartment, the police registered a case of murder. The bodies were found in the locked flat, which had no other residents.

“The incident was reported around 1.44pm and a case of murder, based on circumstantial evidence, registered,” was all that Vivek Gogia, joint CP (southwest range), divulged.

Yashkar’s sister-in-law Anu Sinha said, “There was no problem between Archana and Yashkar. They had spoken to my husband three days ago and would have dropped a hint if there was.”

The couple’s friends and relatives said they fell in love and married seven years ago. They met when Yashkar started taking harmonium lessons from Archana’s father Amarnath Sharma.

“He (Yashkar) was well educated. After clearing the Armed Forces Headquarters Services exam in 1997, he went to study at the London School of Economics twice and was pursuing a diploma in finance from a university in Faridabad while holding an important administrative post in the defence ministry,” said family friend Sanjeev Singh.

Hailing from Patna, Yashkar also worked as Sharmila Tagore’s secretary when she was chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in Mumbai.

The police declined comment but sources suggested Yashkar could have killed Archana before setting himself on fire. However, an officer questioned this theory: “Even if he killed her, why would he decide to die such a painful death? We’ve called a team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory to gather evidence.”