Couple suicide: Parents unware of any problems, cops clueless

NEW DELHI: A day after a young married couple was found dead at their one-bedroom apartment in south Delhi’s Govindpuri, the police remained in the dark about the motive behind their presumed “suicide pact”.

The parents of the couple told investigators that the husband and wife, who had a ‘love marriage’ in 2015, had a “cordial relationship” and there was no apparent reason for them to kill themselves, Chinmoy Biswal, DCP (southeast), said.

Arpita Bagga, 28, and her 30-year-old husband, Mohit Bagga, were found dead in their flat – locked from inside – around 10.30 am on Sunday.

The DCP said that while Mohit was found hanging from a ceiling fan, Arpita was lying dead on the floor. The couple had a love mar- riage with their parents’ consent in 2015, the DCP said.

“There were ligature marks around Arpita’s neck. Prima facie it appeared the couple hanged themselves from the same ceiling fan. She must have fallen to the floor later,” said an investigator.

Even as a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) is probing the death because of a law that calls for a SDM investigation in the death of a woman married for less than seven years, the police have been interacting with the couple’s parents to find possible reasons.

“Both parents said they were unaware of any relationship problems between the couple,” said Biswal. “We suspected possible financial hardships led to the extreme step. But Mohit’s parents said they were unaware of any financial problems the couple was facing,” said the DCP.

Having done his schooling from Delhi, over the last decade Mohit had been to Canada and Newzealand to pursue courses in jewellery designing and business management, respectively, but had returned mid-way on both occasions, an investigator said.

In between the two visits, he had briefly helped his father at his jewellery shop in south Delhi.

“For the past few months, Mohit had been working with a sports events company in Delhi, but we have learnt he was not very happy with the job,” said the investigator.

During Mohit’s stay in New Zealand in 2016, Arpita had lived with her parents in Banaras even as she made continuous efforts to get the country’s visa and visit her husband. In Delhi, the couple lived away from Mohit’s parents in a one-bedroom flat owned by his father. “Mohit’s father was sad that the couple chose the small house,” said the officer.