Case File | Delhi: When a man's wife and ex-wife joined forces to get him killed

The murder involves two women — named Geeta — the past and present wives of man named Sanjeev, who together hired a contract killer who shot him at close range. Here's how it happened:

New Delhi: Assistant Commissioner of Police or ACP (Kalkaji subdivision), Pradeep Kumar, believes that in his 30 years of police service, he has seen several murders. And if he were to recall one that stood out, it was this:

On the day of the incident, Manish (the accomplice) arranged the bike and Sanjeev was shot dead, from a close range.  (Representational Image: Shutterstock)

This murder involves two women named Geeta — one is an ex-wife, and the other is the current wife of the man they allegedly murdered after a painful history of violence against both of them. It took years of planning, secret phone calls, and successful execution. But like every murderer who gets caught, they committed one fatal mistake.

A room full of suspects

It was a slow crime day on July 6 and senior officials were planning to retire for the day when a control room call was transferred to Govindpuri police station from Tikri station. For this station, this was a rare call. The caller was a doctor from Majithia Hospital, who said that a patient was brought in by people who claim it is an accident. But the call was made because it looked like a murder and police help was needed.

As with murder cases, both the Station House Officer (SHO) Jagdish Yadav and the ACP went to the hospital. The medico-legal certificate was obtained by the police and the victim's name was found to be Sanjeev Kumar. It was written that was brought by his wife Geeta Devi. "By the time we had reached, about 10-15 people had already gathered at the hospital including Sanjeev's family. We presumed that his wife would be in trauma, so we spoke to other relatives first. We got to know that Sanjeev was a DTC driver and among those who were present were his wife and an ex-wife, who share the same name. We asked Sanjeev's brother which Geeta brought him to the hospital. He said one of them is named Geeta, but she has another name — Najma, and she is his current wife. It was a little surprising, until we were informed that she is a Muslim," an investigator said.

The officers didn't want to get into details of the name change, so they didn't ask Geeta alias Najma about it in the first interaction, they said. Recalling the first encounter, an officer said that though Najma was crying, she was surprisingly calm. Although not a red flag per se, it was an attitude that the officials didn't forget. They also couldn't ignore the age difference between the husband and wife. "When we asked Najma about what happened, she responded in a rather cool manner that Sanjeev had come home in the evening from duty. They went to buy vegetables and flour. When they were coming back home on their bike, Sanjeev joked and asked her to look at a neighbourhood woman who was carrying some stuff on her shoulder. She said that she had just turned around to look at the woman when she heard a blast-like sound, and couldn't hear anything after that. She said she didn't see anything and anyone either, which was a little strange," another investigator said.

ACP Kumar and his team were informed by the doctor that Sanjeev died of a gunshot injury.

At the hospital, investigators got to talking with the brothers and DTC colleagues of the victim. This revealed more intricate details of his family and helped with several leads into the case.

One of the first lines of the investigation was to look into their interreligious marriage. "One of Sanjeev's brothers told us that he was married to Geeta Devi, but he left her about 11 years ago to be with Najma who was their neighbour back then. She also left her husband. We were told that Sanjeev and Najma's marriage wasn't easy and Najma's family was against the marriage. We couldn't get into details there, but we noted it down to look into it," the investigator said.

His other brother gave another lead to look into: Sanjeev's 27-year-old son Lalit, whom he had with his first wife.

The brother allegedly shared that Geeta and Sanjeev got married 28 years ago and have three children together including a 21-year-old daughter, a son, and another 18-year-old daughter. "Here was a boy whose mother was sidelined and this entire family was neglected. He was jobless and Sanjeev was a DTC driver. We thought that if Sanjeev dies, there was a possibility that Lalit might get his job, which could be a clear motive for him. Therefore, he became one of the suspects," ACP Kumar said, adding that a constable was tasked to keep an eye on Lalit.

Then came another lead: His DTC colleagues, since a few of them had come to the hospital, the police said.

Investigators were informed that a few days before, during a retirement party, there was a fight between Sanjeev and one of his colleagues, which the colleagues present at the hospital hinted at that as a possible motive, adding that Sanjeev was a union leader.

The police were looking at a room full of suspects, while standing in the hospital.

The background checks begin

Investigators said that the same night, the police obtained three CCTV videos from near the scene of the crime, which established that the man collapsed after a bike passed by and that the bike was involved in this incident. Another aspect that the CCTV established was that the man was shot at point-blank range. "Therefore, when Najma said that she couldn't fathom what happened, it didn't sit well with us, but since we had several leads to look into which involved several family members, we had to wait till the postmortem was conducted and last rites were finished," an investigator said.

Meanwhile, investigators went to the DTC office where Sanjeev worked and found out that the suspect his colleagues mentioned could not have had a role to play and that it was a petty drunk argument between them, the investigators said, adding that this lead was ruled out.

As soon as the last rites were performed, one team brought Lalit to the police station, another team started looking into the history of Najma and Sanjeev's interreligious relationship, and yet another went to the house to speak to the two wives, the police said.

"When we spoke to Lalit and did a background check on him, it didn't appear that he could have committed the murder. He used to locally sing with a group. He told us that he was very scared of his father as he used to beat him as a child and he was barely able to speak to him," ACP Kumar said, adding that after his interrogation, he could no longer be considered a prime suspect.

When a background check was made to ascertain the relationship between Najma and Sanjeev, the police said, it revealed that they got together 11 years ago and have a 10-year-old son, but about seven years ago, a scuffle took place in Jharkhand's Godda, Najma's native village, because her family was against this relationship. Right-wing groups in the area then “saved” Sanjeev from her family. Members of her family were even arrested after the scuffle. "This lead, however, also checked out because it was revealed that Najma was not in touch with her immediate family for years and that chapter of her life was closed," an investigator said.

When a sub-inspector (SI) rank officer spoke to Geeta at length, she told them that she was a sanitation worker earning ₹13,000 a month. She allegedly told police that even when the two were living together about 11 years ago, Sanjeev had been involved with many women during the course of their marriage and that he left her in her native village for months on end. She also told investigators that she has a 21-year-old daughter Komal who is a patient of Tuberculosis. "We asked her how is she getting Komal treated. Geeta said that she used to take Sanjeev's help as he had a government health card and he had allowed Geeta to use it, but he had strictly refused to pay them money. Geeta said that Komal used to go with Sanjeev and Najma for her treatment. This conversation meant that Geeta and Najma were in touch," the officer said.

The final nail was pinned during the late hours of July 7 at Najma's home.

The truth comes out

SI Sunil Kumar was speaking to her when started checking her mobile phone. "Suddenly, while checking her mobile phone's deleted photos folder, we found a photograph of the number plate of Sanjeev's bike. It was very odd because it was only the number plate and not a posed photograph of Sanjeev or herself with the vehicle. When we checked the properties of the photo, we found that it was taken on July 5 — just one day before the murder," ACP Kumar said.

When asked about the photograph, she initially said that Sanjeev had asked her to take the photograph, but it made no sense. Next, she started crying. And the plan fell apart. "Mujhe behka diya tha Komal aur Geeta ne," she cried and started spilling the beans, they said.

Komal and Geeta were then called in.

According to police, the murder was planned about two and a half years ago, when Sanjeev allegedly started seeing another woman. He used to beat Geeta in front of Najma quite often anyway. “When they all used to go to the hospital for Komal's treatment, they got enough time together. Geeta told Najma that her youth wouldn't last long and Sanjeev would end up treating Najma the same way he treated her in the past, since he had already started seeing other women." Throughout such conversations, Geeta, Najma, and Komal decided to do something about Sanjeev. "When we spoke to Komal, she was very disappointed with, and aggressive towards, her father. She said he wouldn't spend a penny for her health condition, even though she needed it and her mother had to struggle for it," an investigator said.

One day, two and a half years ago, Najma and Geeta decided to eliminate Sanjeev and divide his property among themselves, investigators said.

A contract killer is hired

Najma allegedly told Geeta that she had a cousin who she could contact in Jharkhand who might be able to help them in killing Sanjeev. "Sanjeev was a tough guy. He had trust issues with Najma. He believed that she was still in touch with her parents in Jharkhand and his life could still be at risk because of the interreligious marriage. Little did he know, both his wives had different plans for him. But his house was covered with CCTVs, with an auto-recorder on her phone, which he would listen to every evening, preventing her from using her phone to make calls," the investigator said.

The officer said that when the first call was made to Najma's cousin Iqbal Ansari years ago, it was made from Geeta's phone at a hospital. "She told him about what she wanted. He told her that someone will contact her and she shouldn't even mention this to him again," the officer said.

Eventually, a man named Nayum allegedly called Geeta and told her that he'll commit the task and would come to Delhi when the time is right. Nayum further roped in a friend from Gujarat — Manish Mehra — who took care of the logistics like arranging a bike in Delhi.

"Nayum and Manish came to Delhi a few times to commit the task, but they didn't get an opportunity. Covid and lockdown also came about in the middle and played a role in the delay in their plan. Eventually, to ensure smooth contact between Najma and Nayum, Komal gave Najma a secret phone which she kept at the neighbour's house," the officer said.

About 15 days before the day of his killing, the police said, Najma took Sanjeev to Haridwar and told the contract killer, Nayum, to come there to eliminate Sanjeev as it may be easier, but Nayum and Manish couldn't come. A desperate Najma then called Nayum again and told him to finish the task at the earliest at all costs. On July 5, he called Najma and told her that he is coming to Delhi and will finish the task the next day and asked for Sanjeev's bike details, which Najma sent and then deleted the photo, investigators said.

The deal was fixed for ₹15 lakh, but the women had only paid ₹20,000 to Nayum through Komal's bank account, an officer said, adding that on the day of the incident, Manish arranged the bike and Sanjeev was shot dead, from a close range.

Now, all the three women involved in the murder along with Iqbal Ansari, Manish Mehra and Nayum stand arrested in the case.

Deputy commissioner of police (South East) Esha Pandey who was awake all night working on the case on the day it was reported and took updates by the minute said, "The team worked very hard on the case and it was a fantastic investigation".