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A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly murdering his 18-year-old wife by strangling and smothering her with a pillow at their home in south Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj JJ Resettlement Colony, reportedly following an altercation over his suspicion that she was having an affair with another man, police said on Monday.
The couple had entered into an interfaith marriage 10 months ago against the wishes of their families, police said.
Police said that after allegedly murdering his wife in the early hours of Friday, the man slept next to her body for nearly 12 hours and woke up around 1.30pm. “He panicked on seeing her dead and tried to stage the scene to make it appear that she had died by suicide by hanging from a bathroom window,” said a senior police officer.
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“After a few minutes, he brought the body down and rushed out of the house screaming that his wife had died by suicide. However, the woman’s sister, who lives in the same neighbourhood, alleged that she had been murdered. The post-mortem revealed that she had been strangled and smothered to death,” the officer added.
Police said they were alerted to the incident on Friday afternoon. A police team found the woman’s body on the first floor of the house. The man allegedly tried to mislead investigators by claiming that he found his wife hanging inside the bathroom.
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Police learnt that a case had been registered in July 2024 in connection with the couple’s elopement when the woman was a minor. She was later traced and produced before the concerned magistrate. In her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), she stated that she had left home voluntarily and had not been induced or coerced, the officer said.
“Last year, she again left her house and started living with the man. She married him immediately after turning 18 in August and the two began living together,” the officer added.
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Inquiry revealed that the man had gone out drinking with a friend on Thursday night. When he returned home, the woman objected to his behaviour, leading to an altercation.
“The woman’s family alleged that she had been subjected to persistent physical abuse and accused the man of murdering her. Based on their allegations and the initial post-mortem findings, a case was registered under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the husband was arrested on Sunday,” said police.
Karn Pratap Singh has been writing on crime, policing, and issues of safety in Delhi for almost a decade. He covers high-intensity spot news, including terror strikes, serial blasts and security threats in the national capital.
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