Boutique owner, help killed in South Delhi home
Tailor, two accomplices stab victims to death in a sprawling Vasant Kunj Enclave bungalow, steal jewellery; victim ran a shop in Green Park
NEWDELHI: A boutique owner and her domestic help were stabbed to death in a sprawling Vasant Kunj Enclave bungalow late on Wednesday night by a tailor who worked for her, police said.
The 53-year-old woman, Mala Lakhani, who ran a shop in Green Park, lived alone in the two-storey house. Her 50-year-old help, Bahadur, also stayed on the premises.
The tailor, Rahul Anwar, who allegedly planned and executed the murder, was a regular at the Lakhani home because he stitched clothes designed by her. Police said that Anwar told them he killed Lakhani because she was rude to him and did not pay him regularly. The 25-year-old Anwar, who has a previous case of sexual assault on a minor against him, was allegedly helped in the murders by his aides Mohammad Rehmat and Wasim.
Rehmat, 20, is a painter, and Wasim,24, is also a tailor, police said.
The three surrendered at the Vasant Kunj South police station of their own accord within hours of the murders – perceptibly because they felt they would eventually be caught. It was only when they turned themselves in that the police came to know about the crimes.
According to the story pieced together by the police after the initial interrogations, Anwar met Rehmat and Wasim outside Lakhani’s house at around 10pm on Wednesday night.
“The three entered the house from the main gate and went to a workshop within the compound. Anwar then called Lakhani on the pretext of showing her some stitching work,” said an investigating officer who asked not to be named. “As she entered the workshop, the three overpowered her. Anwar stabbed her several times in her abdomen, chest, throat and back. She died on the spot.”
The officer said the three men took Lakhani’s body to a bathroom inside the workshop, seemingly to conceal it. “Just at that time, Lakhani’s domestic help, Bahadur, reached the workshop looking for her. The three men pulled him inside the bathroom and stabbed him in the throat, killing him too,” the officer said.
After cleaning the blood on the floor, the men went to the woman’s room and stole jewellery and other items. They escaped in her Hyundai Verna car, parked in the compound.
“They drove the car to Rangpuri Pahadi [a slum locality near Vasant Kunj], where they live. They threw the four knives used in the two murders in the bushes near Rangpuri. They then drove to the Vasant Kunj South police station and surrendered,” said a second investigator. The murder weapons -- normally used to cut meat -- have been recovered.
Deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Devender Arya said the three men said they gave themselves up because they realised that they would be arrested sooner or later.
“Anwar worked with the woman for the past three years. He has claimed that in the last 3-4 months, she was not paying him on time and had mistreated him and that she insulted him in front of other workers. He said he wanted to take revenge and roped in Rehmat and Wasim,” Arya said.
He admitted that the circumstances surrounding the surrender appeared odd, and said the police were verifying the claims.
Nusrut Ahmed, Lakhani’s neighbour, woke up around 3am after hearing the commotion near the bungalow caused by police vehicles. “All of us were woken up by the noise after police reached here. Police asked us not to stand in the balcony and disturb them. We learnt of the murder at around 6 am when police took out the bodies out,” Ahmed said. “Lakhani kept to herself most of the time.”
Lakhani’s parents died several years ago, police said. Her elder brother lives in Goa and younger sister in Gurugram.
At Rangpuri Pahadi, about a kilometre from Lakhani’s house, the suspects’ families refused to believe that they could be murderers. Anwar’s father, Mohammed Anwar, who was also a tailor, said: “He was once framed in a sexual assault case by a neighbour with whom he had a tiff last year. My son had been working with the woman for more than three years. He couldn’t have done this.”
Neighbours said Anwar had assaulted his father two years ago, and had been thrown out of the house. He now lived with some friends, they said.