Woman kills 30-year-old son with her paramour’s help, arrested

NEW DELHI: A 51-year-old woman and her live-in partner allegedly thrashed her son to death with bricks and sticks at their east Delhi home on Sunday after he objected to their liquor and drug addiction, police said.

The woman, Subhadra Devi, and her 30-year-old partner, Ajeet Kumar Mishra, then tried to pass off the murder as a road accident and even called an ambulance, Jasmeet Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (east), said.

But the ambulance staff as well as the woman’s son-in-law sensed foul play and alerted the police, leading to the arrests of the couple within hours of the killing.

The deceased was identified as Ravinder Pathak, a 30-year-old rickshaw-puller. He lived with his mother and her live-in partner, also a rickshaw-puller, in a rented room in New Ashok Nagar.

The couple also has a threemonth-old son. “The woman had deserted her husband who lives at his native village in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh,” Singh said. The officer said that the couple would frequently drink and do drugs, leaving Pathak “furious”. Devi and Mishra allegedly went on to beat her son with bricks and sticks until he died. “There was also a muffler lying at the crime spot. They may have also strangled him with the muffler,” said the officer.

After the killing, the suspects allegedly visited Noida, called an ambulance and cooked up a story about Pathak meeting a road accident, police said. But when the ambulance arrived in Noida, the staff was informed that the victim was in New Ashok Nagar.

“When the ambulance staff saw the crime scene and Pathak’s injuries, they realised that it was a murder case. They informed the police around 8.30am,” said the officer. But the suspected killers managed to escape from the spot and reached north Delhi’s Azadpur where Devi’s daughter and son-in-law live.

“Devi’s son-in-law noticed a lot of blood on Mishra’s pants and realised he was lying. He convinced them to hop onto an autorickshaw and visit the crime scene. Mishra tried to jump out of the auto-rickshaw mid-way too, but Devi’s son-in-law ensured he couldn’t escape,” the officer said.

TRIED TO PASS OFF THE MURDER AS A ROAD ACCIDENT AND CALLED AN AMBULANCE; WERE LATER HELD AFTER AMBULANCE STAFF SENSED FOUL PLAY