Police said during questioning, Savita and Arun said they fell in love in 2017 and Savita’s husband and his family found out about it subsequently. (Representational/File)Four years after a 46-year-old man went missing from Ghaziabad’s Sikrod village, police Monday arrested his wife and her male friend for allegedly murdering him and burying his body in a pit at the latter’s house. Police said the body was recovered after digging up a six-foot deep pit.
According to police, the victim, Chandraveer Singh alias Pappu, had gone missing on September 28, 2018. His brother Bhure Singh had filed a complaint at Sihani Gate police station in Ghaziabad on October 5, 2018, alleging that his brother had been kidnapped, following which a case under IPC section 364 was lodged.
In a statement, police said that after efforts to locate him did not fructify, the case was closed. Police said under the direction of senior officers, the crime branch was probing some untraced cases and had received some leads in the case. Under a joint investigation of the crime branch Janpad Ghaziabad and a team of the Nandgram police station, the case was cracked with the arrest of the victim’s wife, Savita, and their neighbour Arun alias Ani Kumar, police said.
Police said during questioning, Savita and Arun said they fell in love in 2017 and Savita’s husband and his family found out about it subsequently.
“The accused said that Chandraveer had often seen them together and objected to their meetings, but they continued to meet secretly. Upset over this, the victim often beat up his wife. So, the duo planned to eliminate him to continue their illicit relationship,” said a police officer.
Police said as per the plan, Arun allegedly dug a six-foot deep pit in his lawn in anticipation of an opportunity to murder Chandraveer and bury his body.
According to police, on the night of September 28, Chandraveer returned home and slept on a cot. “While he was asleep, Savita called Arun to their house. Arun then shot him dead in his sleep. With the help of Savita, Arun transported the body to his house. Probe found that Arun tried to remove a steel bangle from the victim’s right hand, but after failing to do so, he used an axe to cut off his hand from below the wrist and buried the body. He covered the pit with soil and paved the area on top. A few days later, the accused put concrete on the area to avoid any suspicion,” said the police officer.
Police said the accused allegedly put the victim’s amputated hand in a sack and threw it near a chemical factory in Sikrod village while he hid the gun and the axe underneath rubble and bricks in an abandoned room at Savita’s house. The gun and the axe have been recovered, said police.
Police said after the murder, the victim’s wife tried to frame his brother for his disappearance and attempted to file complaints with police and village leaders to avoid any suspicion.