Woman and friend held for killing paramour, TV-style

Delhi police arrested Krishna, 43, on Monday evening from Navi Mumbai for the murder of her live-in partner Somnath Suverna, 35.

Delhi police arrested Krishna, 43, on Monday evening from Navi Mumbai for the murder of her live-in partner Somnath Suverna, 35.

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Krishna's friend and accomplice, Rakesh More, 35, is also in police custody.

Suverna, a businessman from Mumbai was found dead in a flat in Bindapur in south west Delhi on June 13. The murder, however, had taken place on June 10. Suverna had been first strangled, and then disfigured by his killers, who had poured acid on his face.

When police arrested Krishna (who goes by her first name), a dhaba owner from Navi Mumbai, she confessed that she was inspired by the television series CID.

"On interrogation, she disclosed that during her stay in Mumbai she met Suverna and started living with him. Later, they fought over financial matters and she decided to get rid of him," said AK Ojha, DCP (southwest). Krishna told police that Suverna used to extort money from her.

In keeping with Krishna's holiday murder plot, on June 8, she and Suverna arrived in Delhi. Krishna had already got in touch with More, who was given the task of renting a flat, which was to be the scene of the murder. On June 10, the couple left their Sadar Bazar accommodation in central Delhi and stopped by at the Bindapur flat.

"She gave him sleeping pills mixed with alcohol. When he fell unconscious, she strangled him. They (she and More) waited for the next five hours to make sure he was dead and then left for Mumbai," said Ojha.

They also poured acid on Suverna's face to make it difficult for police to identify him.

On June 13, police recovered a highly decomposed body.

More had got the flat though a local property dealer, whom he had given a fake PAN card as identity proof. The case was cracked by following the call details of Krishna's mobile phone.