New Delhi:
A man murdered his wife and hid her body in a bed in their home in Delhi with the intention of chopping it up, but his hunger for killing did not stop there. Having fled to Amritsar, he set out for Delhi a few days later, aiming to murder a friend of his wife that he suspected her of having an affair with.
He was arrested on the way back from Amritsar and is now in police custody.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Ankit Chauhan said the body of 26-year-old Deepika Chauhan was recovered from inside a box bed in southwest Delhi’s Janakpuri on Friday. The mouth of the body was wrapped with white tape to delay its decomposition. Investigation revealed that Deepika, who used to work in a spa, was married to Dhanraj, a motorcycle rider for popular bike taxi apps. Dhanraj was an alcoholic and spent all his money on his addiction and Deepika ran the household with her money.Â
The police’s probe revealed that Deepika had been killed on December 29 and Dhanraj was on the run. They traced his location to Amritsar and arrested him when he was on his way back to Delhi on Monday.
During interrogation, Dhanraj said he intended to leave Deepika’s body in the bed and then chop it up a few days later so he could scatter the pieces in a deserted place and avoid suspicion. He said he had also looked up ways of chopping up a person’s body on YouTube.
Officials said Dhanraj also confessed that he was returning to Delhi on Monday to kill a friend of his wife that he did not like, but he was arrested before he could carry out the murder.Â
Police said even though his phone was off, a UPI payment made from one of his accounts gave Dhanraj’s location away and enabled them to trace him. He had no criminal history. Three phones, including Deepika’s, were recovered from him.
