Shreya’s family at the crematorium. Express photo by Amit Mehra
A Class XII student was choked to death, allegedly by her former school senior, in Rohini’s Sector 17 on Wednesday night, police said. The victim, Shreya Sharma (17), studied at Titiksha Public School in Rohini and had gone for tuition classes on Wednesday evening. She was found dead in a narrow lane near her house the next morning.
Police managed to track her body when they picked up Sarthak Kapoor, 19, from his house in Rohini’s Sector 11 and questioned him. After the accused made several inconsistent statements, police mounted pressure, following which he confessed to killing the girl, saying that he grew jealous of her talking to other boys in the locality.
DCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal said police have registered a case of murder and kidnapping at K N Katju Marg police station.
Shreya used to live with her father, Yogesh Sharma, an assistant manager with The Delhi State Corporation Bank, her mother Lalita Sharma, a therapist working at a naturopathy hospital in Rohini, and her younger brother Karthik at Sri Niketan Kunj apartments in Sector 17.
She had been pursuing science and had left her house saying she was going to attend a tuition class. “My daughter used to come back by 8 pm. That day, when she did not return, we kept calling her cellphone but there was no response. Fifteen minutes later, her phone was switched off,” said Yogesh Sharma.
The family did not inform police and instead called up the parents of the accused. Sarthak had, in the meantime, got in touch with Shreya’s parents and also roped in four of his friends who made alibis for him, police said. He later joined the search for Shreya along with her family, and when she remained untraceable, the police were contacted.
As police poked holes in Sarthak’s statements, he buckled and told them he had picked her from her tuition on his bike and taken her to a narrow lane near her house. The lane has two exits, one of which is permanently closed, while the other closes at 1 am.
“The two of them had a heated argument. They had known each other for a while, and Sarthak was jealous of the fact that she was talking to other boys. After he put her through a chokehold, she died, following which he panicked and fled the spot,” said a police officer.
The accused initially led police on a wild goose chase and sent the team to several areas in the neighbourhood, after which he gave up the location of the body, leading police to the narrow lane, where the girl was found lying on her back, her shoes and school bag nearby.
