Couple found dead in Sangam Vihar

Baby’s cries alerted neighbour; man found hanging, woman had strangulation marks

A 30-year-old man was found hanging from the ceiling fan while his wife was found dead on the bed at their residence in south Delhi’s Neb Sarai in the early hours of Thursday. No suicide note has been recovered so far, the police said.

Ram Chander, who was a driver, and his wife Neetu alias Nisha (28), a housewife, were found dead in their single-room accommodation on the ground floor at Sangam Vihar.

Son was in the room

Their three-month-old son Raghav was present in the room at the time of the incident and his cries alerted the neighbours. Their other son, two-year-old Ayush, was with his maternal grandmother four houses away in the same street.

Around 4 a.m., a tenant who lives on the first floor came downstairs to use the common toilet and heard Raghav crying incessantly. Surprised, she approached the couple’s family members down the street. Neetu’s mother Saroopi and her sister-in-law rushed to the couple’s house.

“They could hear Raghav crying as they approached the house. The door was shut but not locked from the inside. They opened the door and saw Ram’s body hanging from the fan and Neetu lying dead on the bed. The baby was next to her,” said Ram’s paternal uncle Pancham Singh (60).

Ms. Saroopi and the sister-in-law rushed back and woke the other family members. Meanwhile, neighbours too gathered outside the couple’s house. The police were informed. They inspected the crime scene and took the bodies to AIIMS mortuary for post-mortem.

The police said prima facie it appears that Neetu was killed by her husband before he committed suicide.

“The woman has strangulation marks on the neck. An electric wire was found near her body. Prima facie it appears that he strangulated her with the wire and then used another wire to hang himself. There is also a possibility that the couple hanged themselves and the woman’s body fell on the bed later. The crime scene has been inspected and the bodies sent for post-mortem,” said a senior police officer.

The officer said a magisterial inquiry into their deaths has been initiated and the family members have given their statement to the Magistrate.

Talking about the night before the incident, Ram’s niece Lata (19) said Ms. Saroopi had dinner with the couple at their house and took Ayush to her house.

‘All was fine’

“Everything was fine and she did not say anything. They had dinner together and she came home to sleep around 9.30 p.m. God knows what happened after that,” Ms. Lata added.

The couple got married in 2014 at their village in Agra and shifted to Delhi a few months later. The family said they lived with Ram’s elder brothers for the first two years in the same street before shifting to their current rented accommodation about a year ago.

Neetu’s brother Rakesh Singh (35), a resident of east Delhi’s Geeta Colony, said he had never imagined something like this would happen.

“Ram was a quiet man. The never fought. A week ago, they had come to our house for dinner and everything was fine. We have no clue what went wrong last night,” he said.