A marital discord culminated in the murder of a 35-year-old woman and her minor daughter at Indira Park in South-West Delhi in the early hours of Sunday. They were bludgeoned to death allegedly by the woman’s husband, who has since been arrested.
The incident came to light when Prachi woke up around 8 a.m. and found her aunt Sarita and 10-year-old cousin Shalini lying on the bed covered in blood. She raised an alarm, following which the neighbours rushed in and alerted the police. As Sarita’s husband Jaswinder (35), a taxi driver, was missing from the house, a hunt was launched for him.Preliminary enquiries by the police revealed that Sarita and Jaswinder got married over a decade ago. With the passage of time, Jaswinder suspected his wife of having an illicit relationship with another man. This led to frequent quarrels between them.
Sarita, who worked in a factory, had been pestering him to get his Indira Park house registered in her name. This irked Jaswinder and he allegedly planned to eliminate her. A police officer said the house is in the name of Jaswinder’s deceased parents and he was the natural heir.
“The couple were not on talking terms for the past three years and had been living in separate rooms. Neighbours alleged that the accused would physically torture his wife and daughter,” said a police officer.
On Saturday night, the two had dinner and went to sleep in separate rooms. The two children, Shalini and Prachi (13), went to sleep in the same room as Sarita.
Jaswinder later told his niece to go and sleep in his room as he had to discuss something with his wife.
“Around 1-30 a.m. when the other three members in the house were sleeping, he gagged his wife and daughter and hit them on the head with an iron rod. The accused then fled, leaving behind the profusely bleeding mother-daughter duo,” said the officer, adding that their bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
A case of murder was registered at the Sagarpur police station. “Based on the revelations made by neighbours and Jaswinder’s niece, we suspected his involvement in the murders. He was traced to a railway station in South-West Delhi and arrested. During interrogation, the accused purportedly confessed to having murdered his wife and daughter.”
