He hired two female singers, fell for both, alleges family of bizman’s wife
NEW DELHI: Two years ago when Pankaj Mehra had first mooted the idea of having live singers at his floundering bar-cum-restaurant in Paharganj, his wife Priya’s family resented the move.
Priya’s family were restaurateur Pankaj’s business partners. And with Pankaj insisting, there was little that they could do but relent. Little did they, however, know that this very idea of having live singers would one day cost Priya’s life, her family said .
Priya’s relatives on Saturday claimed that the woman for whom Pankaj allegedly killed his wife in Rohini on Wednesday morning had worked as a singer at his bar-cum-restaurant in Paharganj.
“There were two singers with whom Pankaj was having extramarital affairs. We did not like the idea of having women singers entertain customers, but Pankaj insisted that they were necessary for the business. The live singing couldn’t help the business recover, but we lost our daughter,” said Priya’s uncle, Harish Manghani, on Saturday.
“Priya and Pankaj had fallen in love when they were both 17. They married when they were around 22 or 23. There was no problem in their relationship until the singers came in,” said Rajesh Manghani, another uncle.
Priya’s mother, Manju, had earlier told Hindustan Times that Pankaj had married one of the women and had fathered a child with her. When Priya questioned his relationship with the other woman, Pankaj would beat her up, Manju had alleged.
Police said they were yet to interrogate the woman named by Priya’s parent, who is believed to be in her 30s. “We have tried to reach out to her, but she has not been cooperative. She will be questioned soon,” said Milind Dumbere, DCP (northwest).
Pankaj Mehra was arrested on Thursday after police debunked his story of armed men — allegedly sent by his moneylender — ambushing his car near Rohini jail and shooting his wife Priya .
Police claimed CCTV footage and scientific evidence helped them nail Pankaj’s lies. Rajesh Khurana, joint CP (northen range), alleged that Pankaj wanted to get rid of Priya so that he could live with the other woman. Pankaj also blamed his moneylender for the murder so that he did not have to return the Rs 40 lakh that he owed him.
The police, however, are yet to find the murder weapon – a pistol.. “We are searching for the weapon as it is a crucial evidence to establish Pankaj’s involvement,” said an investigator.
According to the DCP, Pankaj claimed that after shooting Priya from point-blank range, he drove towards a hospital and threw the pistol out of the car window below a flyover loop ahead of Mukarba Chowk . “Since Pankaj’s role in the murder was established later, we began a search for the weapon only 24 hours after the murder,” said an investigator.
Meanwhile, Priya’s younger brother, Karthik, has offered to adopt the couple’s two-year-old son who was sleeping in his mother’s lap at the time of her murder.