Delhi police have arrested a 21-year-old woman, her ex-boyfriend, and his friend for allegedly murdering her live-in partner, a 32-year-old UPSC aspirant, and burning his body to ashes to kill all evidence of the crime.
The suspects include Amrita Chauhan, her ex-boyfriend Sumit Kashyap (27), and his friend Sandeep Kumar (29) from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The trio was arrested after an 18-day search operation by the Delhi Police.
The investigation started on October 6 when the fire department rushed to a fire in a fourth-floor flat in Gandhi Vihar, Timarpur. Police found the charred remains of Ramkesh Meena, a Rajasthan UPSC aspirant. At first sight, it seemed to be an accidental fire. Later, CCTV footage revealed the incident.
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CCTV clues crack the case
Witnesses identified the footage of two masked men entering the building at approximately 2:18 am and one of them leaving shortly afterwards. The woman and another man exited the flat by 2:57 am, before the flat was consumed by fire.
When police traced the woman in the video, they found her phone switched off. Her last location took them to Moradabad, where Chauhan was arrested on October 18. Under interrogation, she had admitted to hatching the murder plan with her ex-boyfriend and his friend.
A revenge-filled plan of terror
As per an Economic Times report, Amrita and Ramkesh met in May and began living together shortly thereafter. She then alleged that he had recorded obscene videos secretly and was unwilling to delete them. In desperation, she approached Kashyap, who enlisted Kumar's help to recover the hard disk.
Police said that Amrita, a BSc Forensic Science student, had a keen interest in crime shows. This led her to use her knowledge in planning the murder and stage it as a fire accident to mislead investigators, the Economic Times reported.
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During the night of October 6, the three entered Meena's flat, attacked, and strangled him. They then doused his body with ghee, oil, and wine, kept a gas cylinder close to his head, and set the place on fire to give the impression that it was an accident.
Police subsequently recovered the stolen hard disk, a trolley bag, and Meena's attire from the suspects. Kashyap and Kumar were arrested on October 22 and 23.
Confirming the arrests, DCP (North) Raja Banthia said sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita about murder, common intention, and mischief by fire have been invoked.
