NEW DELHI: Influenced by the Hollywood crime drama “The Staircase”, a 52-year-old man was arrested from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly murdering his wife in Delhi over a long-standing property dispute, police said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Kamal Singh, allegedly confessed during interrogation that he had meticulously planned the murder. According to police, he told investigators he believed that hiding the actual murder weapon and placing another weapon at the scene would help him evade detection.
On July 30, police received a call from the deceased’s son, Gaurav, alleging that his father had murdered his mother. When officers reached the house, they found the body of Komal lying in a pool of blood near the couch in the drawing room. A blood-stained pair of scissors, suspected to be the weapon of offence, was recovered from the centre table.
Gaurav told police that he had left for his library in Noida around 9.30 am, while his sister left for work about an hour later. Before leaving, both had witnessed their father quarrelling with their mother over the registration of a property in Jagatpuri, a police officer said.
When repeated calls to their mother went unanswered in the evening, Gaurav returned home around 9.15 pm, unlocked the flat with his key and found his mother dead with multiple injuries, the officer added.
During the investigation, CCTV footage established that after the siblings left the house, only the accused and the deceased remained inside. A woman’s scream was captured on the recording, following which the accused was seen concealing the weapon in a bag before leaving the house, Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range) Ajit Kumar Singla said.
Police said Singh had withdrawn around `7 lakh from his bank accounts shortly before absconding. His movement was tracked from Delhi towards Gorakhpur. However, after abandoning his alleged plan to flee to Nepal, he diverted towards Mathura in an attempt to mislead investigators.
Singh was later arrested near Mathura railway station. Police recovered `12.75 lakh.