Two women were found dead at a locked house in southeast Delhi’s Jaitpur on Thursday morning.

Police said the prime suspect is the 35-year-old husband of one of the women, and is absconding with their 12-year-old son. Police suspect that the second woman was living with the family as the man’s live-in partner.

According to the police, they received a call around 11.25am from a resident of a building in Saurabh Vihar in Jaitpur who reported a strong stench coming from a locked one-room house.

A police team broke open the doors and found two women lying on the floor.

“ Two women aged about 30-35 years were found dead when the police team reached the spot. We found clothes wrapped around their necks, ” Chinmoy Biswa, Deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said.

The police identified the two women as Kismat and Zabna.

“Kismat, who was between 30 and 35 years, was the legally wedded wife of the suspect while 35-year-old Zabna was also staying with them,” the DCP said.

“The women were rushed to a hospital where both of them were pronounced dead. They had no life-threatening external injuries. We suspect that the absconding man might have poisoned them as well. Their bodies were sent to AIIMS for an autopsy and a crime and forensics team were called to the spot to collect evidence,” an officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

He said there is a possibility that women were killed while having lunch. The officer said a preliminary probe revealed that one Jamshed had taken the room on rent and used to live there with his wife, son and another woman.

“The neighbours told us that the man used to refer to both of them as his wives. They said they have not seen the man or his son since Wednesday evening. As he is absconding, he is the prime suspect. The man works as a construction worker,” he added.

DCP Biswal said it is not clear if the second woman was his wife or not and the police is yet to determine the exact cause of the deaths. “The autopsy will reveal the cause of death. We are raiding Jamshed’s possible hideouts to trace him. We have some leads and the suspect will be arrested soon,” the DCP said.

The family’s landlady, Shushila said she did not get Jamshed’s background verified by the police. “They came to live here two months ago and were paying ₹2,000 as rent. Since neighbours had reported that the family often created a ruckus, I had asked them to vacate the house by the end of this month,” she said.

Mukesh Kumar, who lives on the first floor of the single storey building, said he had called the police after things appeared suspicious. “The window and the main door were locked and the lights were switched off,” he said.

Kumar, who works as an electrician, said, “A month ago, Kismat and Zabna had a fight and Kismat pulled out the valve of their LPG cylinder threatening to blow up the building. All occupants had to rush out and the police were called. The women were taken to the police station and the matter was resolved. ”  Jamshed would also often return home drunk and beat the women up, he added.

With the two murders and a 36-year-old shot and stabbed dead in Sangam Vihar on Wednesday night, the total number of murders reported in the past one week rose to 13.

So far, 233 murders have been reported in Delhi by June 15 this year — 10 more than over the same period last year.

First Published: Jun 28, 2019 04:29 IST