NEW DELHI: The national capital seems to be turning into a brutal crime city following two horrific murder cases reported this month.On May 19-20, a 28-year-old man allegedly chopped his girlfriend’s body at a south Delhi flat. Ten days later, a mother-son duo are believed to have repeated the gruesomeness in an eastern part of the city.
The second victim, identified as Anjan Das, was given an intoxicant and when he was dizzy, the mother and son allegedly hacked him with a dagger in the neck, chest and abdomen. Like Shraddha Walkar case, the killing was just one part of heinousness. Brutalising the victim and hiding the body added to the murderous lunacy. In the east Delhi case, the suspects cloaked it for over six months.
The crucial part of the plan was disposal of the body. After killing Das on May 30, the suspects reportedly kept his body in a room until morning so that the blood would drain out. The next day, they cleaned the floor with phenyl and chopped the body in about a dozen pieces. They preserved them in a fridge and later packed them in plastic bags, said the police. Over some days, they would dump the bags at Ramlila Ground near Ganda Nala, New Ashok Nagar. They cleaned the room and the fridge with phenyl.
The sob story
One of the suspects, Poonam Devi, had a sob story to tell. She got married at 13 to one Sukhdev Tiwari in Bihar. The couple had a daughter. Tiwari went to Delhi for work but never returned. In 1997, she along with her daughter came to Delhi looking for him, but he was untraceable. She then met one Kallu and started living with him. Kallu did not do any work for a living. She gave birth to a son, namely Deepak (co-accused) and two daughters, one of whom died when she was four.
In 2011, she met Das (the deceased) who worked as a lift mechanic. He lived at the upper floor of her building on rent. As Kallu was an alcoholic, she became close to Das. Kallu died in 2016 and Poonam started living with Das.
Revenge at its worst
After Poonam married Das, she learnt that he was already married and had eight children from his first wife. He later stopped working and demanded Poonam’s earnings. He used to steal her jewellery and cash and sent it to his first wife, due to which they fought often.
In March-April, Poonam came to know that Das wanted sexual relations with her divorced daughter as well as daughter-in-law (Deepak’s wife). He attempted to rape one of them. Poonam and Deepak then plotted to eliminate him, police said.
Neighbours in shock
The neighbours of the family are stunned. “We came to know about the incident when media persons arrived. Anjan and Poonam didn’t talk much with us. They fought with each other,” said a neighbour.
Another neighbour recalled Deepak as a decent man, saying he never thought he would commit such a horrific crime.