Hindustan Times (Noida)

Woman arrested for conspiring to kill lover’s wife

- Pavneet Singh Chadha pavneet.chadha@htlive.com

GURUGRAM: The police on Tuesday arrested a 35-year-old woman, Shefali Bhasin Tewari, for allegedly conspiring with her lover to kill his wife by pushing her from the balcony of their eighth floor apartment in an upscale condominiu­m on the night of Karva Chauth, October 27.

The deceased woman, Deepika Chauhan (32), a banker, had fallen to her death from the balcony of her eighth-floor apartment in Valley View Estate, Gwal Pahari, on October 27 at 9.37pm. Her husband, Vikram Singh Chauhan, was arrested the next day for allegedly pushing Deepika when she confronted him about his extra marital affair with Shefali, who is married and lives in the same condominiu­m. Shefali is six months pregnant, police said.

Shefaliwas­arrestedon­tuesday from her house on Gurugram-faridabad Road after the police perused through reams of transcript­ed conversati­ons, primarily from Google Talk and Whatsapp, detailing a “well thought-out conspiracy”, which helped the police join the dots in the case over the past fortnight.

A police officer privy to the investigat­ion, requesting anonymity, said that about two hours before Deepika was murdered, Shefali had sent a Google Talk-message to Vikram at 7.43pm in response to his complaints that his wife was “shouting like hell after a fight”.

Investigat­ors probing the case said the message, in verbatim, read, “Balcony se phek do (Throw her from the balcony)”. Nine minutes later, Vikram had replied: “I want to…badly right now…she is shouting (sic)”. Tow hich Shefali responded: “toh kardo (then do it).”

Another message sent by Shefali at 5.47pm on the day, read, “Lol I was thinking you would have thrown her by now...” (time lag)

A case was registered against the woman under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (causing disappeara­nce of evidence of offence or giving false informatio­n to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code at DLF Phase-1 police station. Vikram, booked under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code, is lodged in Bhondsi jail.

DLF Phase-1 station house officer Sanjeev Kumar said that Vikram, during his examinatio­n had revealed that the duo frequently exchanged messages on Gmail and had created accounts with their initials “to avoid identifica­tion”. The police said that Vikram and Shefali’s chats revealed that they were dating since November 2017.

 ?? YOGENDRA KUMAR/HT PHOTO ?? The accused in police custody.
YOGENDRA KUMAR/HT PHOTO The accused in police custody.

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