Wife, neighbour held for man’s murder, 4 yrs on

GHAZIABAD: Over four years after 46-year-old Chandravir Singh, a resident of Sikrod near Delhi-meerut Road, went missing, the Ghaziabad crime branch on Monday arrested Singh’s wife and their neighbour who allegedly murdered the man and buried the body seven feet deep at his house four years ago.

The police said Singh was reported missing on September 28, 2018, and an FIR of abduction was lodged at Sihani Gate police station. However, police could not trace him and filed a closure report in the case in April 2021.

A fortnight ago, senior officials while reviewing cases of missing persons, tasked the crime branch to reopen the investigation into Singh’s disappearance. The crime branch then roped in local intelligence and came to know that Singh’s wife Savita Singh, 35, and her neighbour Anil Kumar, 36, who was unmarried, were on very friendly terms and this had caused frequent altercations between the husband and wife.

“Our team spoke to Singh’s 16-year-old daughter, who revealed that she suspected her mother of being involved in her father’s disappearance. So we questioned Arun at length. He admitted to murdering Singh. He said he and Savita decided to kill him because he objected to their relationship,” said Abdur Rehman Siddiqui, in-charge of Ghaziabad crime branch.

The police said Arun first dug a nearly seven-foot-deep pit in his house and went to the victim’s house on the evening of the incident. “There, he first shot Singh in the head with a countrymade weapon and drained all the blood in a bucket. Later that night, they transferred the body to Arun’s house where it was buried in the pit,” Siddiqui added. The police said after burying the body, Arun covered the portion with bricks and debris and after some days got the entire portion cemented.