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Shop helper kills woman, teen son in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar for being ‘humiliated’
A Delhi Police officer aware of the murders said their throats were slit and their bodies were in separate rooms in the house.
A 24-year-old man, who worked at a garment shop in south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market, allegedly slit the throats of his employer’s wife and teenage son inside their residence, hours after he was humiliated for not showing up to work on time, police said on Thursday.
The victims were identified as Ruchika Sewani, 42, and her son Krish, 14. The suspect, Mukesh Paswan, was arrested from a train in Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction railway station in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning.
Paswan, who worked in a garment store run by Kuldeep Sewani, the husband and father of the two victims, respectively, told the police that he killed the two people after Ruchika “scolded and humiliated” him.
The murder came to light on Wednesday evening, when 44-year-old Kuldeep Sewani called the police control room at 9.43 PM after he spotted bloodstains on the staircase leading to the house, and his calls to his wife and son went unanswered.
A police team then smashed through the door of the first-floor flat in F block of the bustling south Delhi neighbourhood, and found Ruchika and Krish’s bodies in pools of blood.
A Delhi Police officer aware of the murders said their throats were slit and their bodies were in separate rooms in the house.
“The wife’s body was found in the bedroom and the son’s in the washroom,” a police officer said.
Deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said Paswan used to work at the Sewanis’ garment store in Lajpat Nagar. “He lived in Amar Colony and is originally from Bihar,” Tiwari said.
Another officer aware of the matter said CCTV footage from the neighbours’ cameras showed the suspect entering the house around 7.30pm and leaving after an hour.
Kuldeep told the police he spoke to his wife around 7.25 PM, when he was at the shop, said police.
Ruchika returned home from the shop in the evening, said police, adding that Paswan landed up at the house unannounced between 7.30 PM and 8 PM. When the woman opened the door, he allegedly attacked her with a sharp weapon, slitting her throat.
“Paswan first killed the woman and then the son, because he was a witness, but this will be ascertained after detailed interrogation,” said the officer cited above.
Technical surveillance revealed Paswan took a train to Uttar Pradesh, after which police in the neighbouring state were informed. “In the morning, UP Police arrested him from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction in Mughalsarai,” Tiwari said.
He said the precise motive was still unclear and that Paswan was being questioned. Another officer aware of the matter said Ruchika allegedly rebuked Paswan on Wednesday morning, after which he decided “to take revenge”.
Kuldeep’s maternal uncle Jai Kumar, 59, said Paswan worked at the garment shop for the last three years and took a ₹40,000 loan from the family to buy himself a cellphone. However, he hadn’t been coming to work for the last 10 days.
“Ruchika called him on Wednesday morning and told him that he should either come to work or return the advance,” Kumar said. This, officers said, triggered the crime.
One of the workers at the shop said Kumar was a trusted aide of the Sewanis.
“He was not just an employee; he was around all the time. Ruchika treated him like family,” said Rohan, a co-worker at the garment shop. Kumar was one of the four employees at the store.
