Ghaziabad man held months after killing partner in Shimla

GHAZIABAD: This May, there was a murder of a tourist in Shimla hills. Her decomposed body was retrieved from a forest in the Shivalik ranges.
Seven months later, a police complaint in Ghaziabad from a woman who couldn't trace her daughter, Divya, joined the dots. They led right to the doorstep of Raman, a garage owner, reports Advitya Bahl. Ghaziabad resident Raman was held on Friday for allegedly strangling Divya (35), his live-in partner of four years, on the way to Shimla and throwing her body in a forest. The crime threw up chilling similarities with Shraddha's murder by Aaftab. They too had together last visited Himachal.
Live-in partner held 7 months after killing woman on a Shimla holiday
This May, there was a murder in the hills. It was a tourist. Her body, decomposed, was retrieved from a forest in the Shivalik ranges of Shimla.
This week, seven months later, a police complaint in Ghaziabad from a woman who couldn't trace her daughter, Divya, joined the dots. They led right to the doorstep of Raman, a garage owner.
Ghaziabad resident Raman was arrested on Friday for allegedly strangling Divya (35), his live-in partner of four years, on the way to Shimla for a holiday in a car and throwing her body in a forested area. The crime threw up chilling similarities with Shraddha Walkar's murder by boyfriend Aaftab Poonawalla. Incidentally, they too had together last visited Himachal (Tosh).
Raman returned to the city to lead a peaceful life with his wife at their flat when police knocked on his door on December 19. After sustained questioning for a couple of days, he admitted to have killed Divya (35) - with whom he had shared a flat in Ghaziabad for four years - on May 19.
Raman came under the police scanner after Divya's mother lodged a missing person's complaint on December 18. She alleged she hadn't spoken to her daughter since May and suspected Raman of foul play. Divya had introduced Raman to her mother as her friend.
"The complaint was lodged at Indirapuram police station and a case under Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder act) of the IPC was registered. We detained Raman for questioning since the missing woman's mother had named him. After a two-day interrogation, we came to know that Divya had been murdered," said Deeksha Sharma, the deputy commissioner of police (trans-Hindon). Police have now added the murder charge.
But why did Raman kill Divya? Both of them, police said, had been living together and had a daughter (2). But ties between them turned testy last year when Raman secretly married another woman under family pressure. After Divya came to know about that, it would often lead to fights in their Vasundhara flat. Raman's wife, it seems, knew about Divya as the daughter was living with them in the Vasundhara flat since May.
On May 19, Raman offered to take Divya on a holiday to Shimla in a car. "On the way, he stopped in a deserted and woody area. Raman then strangled Divya in the car and dumped the body in a nearby forest. When we started probing his claims, we found that the Kumarsain police station in Shimla had recovered the body of a woman on May 26 and even registered a murder case," Sharma said.
The build and other details matched the description of Divya given by her mother. "The body was identified from the clothes and several tattoos on it. When we had enough evidence, we arrested Raman on Friday," Sharma said.
The police in Shimla had even issued a notice to identify the decomposed body. In the description, the police had specified that the woman had a butterfly tattoo on the left shoulder and "I love you Mom, Pop Z" on the forearm.
"He said he was unable to handle the daily fights with Divya after he got married to another woman. So, he hatched the plan to murder her," Sharma said.
After killing Divya, the officer said, Raman returned to Ghaziabad and went to the police station. He identified Divya as his wife and alleged she had left home without informing anyone in the morning.
"A missing person's dairy was lodged and Raman was questioned. The case was pursued in keeping with the guidelines," Sharma said, adding that none from her family showed up other than Raman.
Divya, said police, would not contact her family for months at a stretch. Originally from Begusarai in Bihar, Divya lost his father at a young age and her mother remarried. "Her mother started living in Noida. Divya, too, had got married six years ago to a man from Rajasthan, but it didn't work out. She had been living with Raman for the past 4 years and had a daughter with him. After the murder, the girl lived with Raman in his flat," a police officer said.