The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested an Army Major from Meerut for killing the wife of a fellow officer. The police said the murder was premeditated and was not committed in a fit of rage.
Shailza Dwivedi (35), wife of Major Amit Dwivedi, was found dead with her throat slit on a street in Delhi Cantonment on June 23.
DCP (West) Vijay Kumar said the accused, identified as Major Nikhil Rai Handa, was detained in Meerut by a team of the Delhi Police. He was brought to Delhi and formally arrested. The accused Army officer is currently posted in Nagaland’s Dimapur district.
Marriage proposal
“The accused said he was obsessed with the victim and wanted to marry her but she was not ready to do it. They got to know each other when the victim’s husband and the accused were posted together in Dimapur four years ago,” Mr. Kumar said.
“The accused has been booked under IPC Section 302 [murder]. We have recovered a Swiss knife and a big kitchen knife from his car that he had used in the murder. The post-mortem report revealed that the victim had a single deep cut on her neck and that the body was run over by the car repeatedly,” he said. The police said Major Handa reached Delhi on June 4 to visit the base hospital. Thereafter, he extended his leave on the grounds of his son’s treatment for stomach ache at the same hospital.
Met on Saturday
“On Saturday, he had called Shailza and asked her to meet him. They met at 10.30 a.m. after her physiotherapy session at the hospital. They roamed around in Major Handa’s car in the Delhi Cantonment area for around two hours. He was insisting that she marry him. However, she refused, l which angered him and he killed her,” said a police officer.
After killing her, Major Handa went back to the hospital and met his son. He again went back to the murder spot. On finding the police at the crime scene, he first went to his house in Saket and then left for Meerut in his car. He tried to wash the blood stains in the car.
Frequent calls
“He was earlier posted in Meerut so he was familiar with the location. He was traced with the help of technical surveillance and CCTVs at toll booths on the way to Meerut. He was detained and brought to Delhi. No other person was present with him in the car during the murder,” the police officer said.
During initial investigation, it was found that Major Handa was also in touch with other women. They used to communicate frequently, his phone records revealed.
“At first, Major Dwivedi had raised suspicion on Major Handa in his wife’s murder case. We zeroed on him on after going through his mobile phone records and frequent visits of Amritsar and Delhi. We will also question other women friends of Major Handa,” the officer said.
The victim’s phone is yet to be found, he said.
