Woman stabbed to death in feud over garbage collection in G Noida

We were sleeping outside on separate cots. I woke up around 12am by my wife’s shouts. There were five people who had stabbed her in the chest and face.

AKBAR ALI, husband of deceased

GREATER NOIDA: A 45-year-old woman was stabbed to death allegedly by two of her neighbours and three unidentified persons in the early hours of Sunday outside her house in Jalpura, Greater Noida. The body has been sent for postmortem.

According to her family, the incident took place when the woman, identified as one Najma, was sleeping in the verandah outside their rented accommodation.

“We were sleeping outside on separate cots. I woke up around 12am by my wife’s shouts. There were five people who had stabbed her in the chest and on her face with a knife. Though it was dark, I was able to recognise two of them as my neighbours. Me and my son started shouting, following which the other neighbours came to help. We took her to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead,” Akbar Ali, the husband of the deceased, said.

He alleged that the family had an ongoing tussle with their neighbour, Vijay Kumar, over garbage collection. “We collect garbage from the neighbourhood. Earlier, the contract was in our name but later, Vijay started doing the work. This had led to arguments between our families on several occasions in the past,” Akbar said.

Based on the family’s complaint, a case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the two accused, Vijay and Rajiv Ranjan, both residents of Jalpura, and three unknown persons.

The police said Vijay works as a ragpicker and Rajiv is a clerk in a private bank. They added that they are both in their early thirties.

The police said they were alerted about the i ncident almost immediately. However, the woman was dead by the time a police team reached the hospital, they added.

“We have taken both the accused into custody. However, they have not been sent to jail as investigation is not over. We are verifying the claims made by the family. So far, no one has been able to confirm the arguments the woman’s husband alleged took place between them,” Nishank Sharma, circle officer 3, Greater Noida, said.

The police said that even though the woman died due to stabbing, they are waiting for the postmortem report.

Najma and Akbar both worked as daily wage labourers and have four children, two of whom are married, the police said.