NEW DELHI: In a case of love affair gone awry, a 31-year-old man killed his 60-year-old landlady-turned-lover after the latter objected to his plan to marry another woman. The case came to light on Friday when the woman’s decomposed body was found wrapped in a plastic sheet and hidden in a bed box in Nand Nagri.
DCP (northeast) Joy Tirkey said that a PCR call was received regarding the murder of a senior citizen woman named Asha Devi.The woman, a resident of Dilshad Garden, had gone missing from Nand Nagri on December 10 and three days later her son filed a missing complaint at Nand Nagri police station.
“Today, family members of Asha Devi reported that a foul smell was coming out of their house in Harsh Vihar. When they opened the bed box on the ground floor bedroom, they found her body wrapped in plastic kept inside it,” Tirkey said.
During investigation, police found that a tenant of the deceased woman, Devender alias Dev, had also not been seen by anyone since the day Asha went missing. He was tracked down and caught from Aligarh, UP. Tirkey said Devendra came to Delhi in 2015 searching for work and ran a copper wire packing business for some time but went into loss during COVID period.
He borrowed money from his father to study in Germany but never went there. He moved into a house in Nand Nagri owned by Asha Devi in 2020 and became friendly with her. This turned into a full-fledged relationship over time.
In 2022, another woman started living in a floor below Devendra and they got into a relationship. They decided to tie the knot and the couple got engaged on December 4 in Aligarh. Their marriage was fixed for February, 2024.
When Asha learnt about it, she confronted Devendra. He told police that she threatened and slapped him and he retaliated by hitting her on her head with a brick. When she fell unconscious, Devender hit her multiple times and also tried to throttle her.
“He then bought plastic sheet, wrapped her body in it, and stuffed it inside a bed box,” Tirkey said, adding he also took away her money and jewellery and fled to Aligarh.
