Wife’s body found in Lajpat Nagar 19 days ago, man held

NEWDELHI: Nineteen days after the decomposed body of a woman was found in a wooded area near Jal Vihar in south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar-1, police on Saturday arrested her husband and said he killed her as he suspected her of being “friends with other men”, the police said.

The woman’s decomposed body, parts of it eaten by stray animals, was discovered by a passerby on January 21, the police said. On February 2, police said a 15-year-old boy had approached the local police station and reported that his mother, Geeta Devi, was missing since January 13. The photographs of the woman, whose body was cremated on January 30, and those of her clothes and articles were shown to the teenager. The boy identified the woman as his mother and a murder case was registered and investigation was taken up, additional deputy commissioner of police (south east) Ghanshyam Bansal said.

Police said the arrested 40-year-old man, Sanjay Kumar Singh, was Geeta Devi’s second husband. On January 13, Singh allegedly strangled his wife with his muffler after luring her to the forested area on the pretext of resolving their differences. According to the police, the woman’s son told them that he lived with his mother and stepfather Singh at Garhi village near south Delhi’s East of Kailash.

The role of Singh, a rickshawpuller, came under the lens when the boy told the police that his parents often fought and that his stepfather was also missing since the day his mother went missing, the police said.

During the probe, an investigator said it was learnt that Singh was last seen going out with his wife on January 13. “On Friday, we learnt that Singh had come to Sari Kale Khan area from Aligarh to pick up his son. We caught him when he reached his Garhi village house to collect his son. Singh admitted to the crime during questioning,” the additional DCP said.

Singh told the police he met Geeta Devi in 2008. “Singh and Geeta Devi and soon got married. The couple has a son from their marriage,” Bansal said.

The police said Singh told them that Geeta Devi worked as a domestic help, and he suspected she was involved in relationships with other men, which he did not like, and so he killed her.