What began as a routine hit-and-run investigation in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar has unraveled into a cold-blooded murder allegedly plotted by a woman and her lover, with the victim being led to his death by his own wife.
Ashish Kumar had gone out for an evening walk with his newly wed wife, Anjali, last Friday, unaware that the walk was a carefully orchestrated trap. Minutes later, he lay dead on a deserted road in 01KLM village.
Anjali initially told police that an overspeeding motorcycle had rammed into her husband from behind, killing him on the spot, before the rider robbed her of her gold earring and fled. She claimed she was knocked unconscious during the incident, HT earlier reported.
The story held, briefly.
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From stolen jewelry to murder plot
It was only after the autopsy report that the case took a disturbing turn. It found no injuries consistent with a road accident. Instead, Ashish’s body bore multiple assault marks, including a deep head wound and signs of smothering.
{{/usCountry}}It was only after the autopsy report that the case took a disturbing turn. It found no injuries consistent with a road accident. Instead, Ashish’s body bore multiple assault marks, including a deep head wound and signs of smothering.
{{/usCountry}}“There were clear indications of a brutal attack, not a vehicular collision,” Sri Ganganagar superintendent of police Amrita Duhan said.
With no evidence of a hit-and-run or robbery, police began questioning Anjali again. On Wednesday, she confessed.
Investigators say Anjali, 23, had been in a relationship with Sanjay, 25, for seven years, a fact known to her family. Despite this, she was allegedly forced into marriage with Ashish Kumar, 27, in October last year. According to police, she never accepted the marriage.
Just 16 days before the killing, Anjali and Sanjay allegedly began plotting Ashish’s murder.
Police revealed that Anjali deliberately lured her husband to an isolated stretch of road on the pretext of an evening walk.
Reece done, 2 men waiting and an evening walk
Before leaving home, she had already alerted Sanjay, who lay in wait with two accomplices: Rohit and Siddharth - after conducting a recce of the location days earlier.
As the couple reached the deserted spot, Sanjay and the others allegedly attacked Ashish with iron rods and sticks, beating him repeatedly until he collapsed. When he fell unconscious, Sanjay allegedly smothered him to death.
The autopsy later confirmed both blunt force trauma and suffocation.
In an attempt to stage the crime as a robbery, Anjali allegedly handed over her gold earring and mobile phone to Sanjay after the murder. The men then fled, while she raised an alarm and narrated the fabricated hit-and-run story to Ashish’s family and locals.
Police have arrested all four accused and booked them for murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Investigators further revealed that after the wedding, Anjali had asked Ashish to let her return to their former college in Ravla for higher studies, a move police believe was aimed at continuing her relationship with Sanjay. Ashish refused.
That refusal, police say, led to the murder plot.