New Delhi: What was initially suspected as a case of a husband killing his wife and her paramour has turned out to be the handiwork of a notorious gang, which had raped the woman in front of her lover before killing them.
The accused, affiliated to the Rajesh Bawania gang, raped the 38-year-old woman of Madanpur Dabas in front of her 23- year-old paramour and later strangled the duo, police said.
The incident dates back to February 19, when the police received a call about a woman’s body lying near a pond at Meer Vihar, Madanpur Dabas here.
There was a ligature mark on her neck and it was found that she had been missing from her house for a day, said DCP (Crime) G Ramgopal Naik.
She had been murdered somewhere else and her body had been dumped near the pond.
The next day, the body of a man was found in a drain near a canal in Madanpur Dabas. A motorcycle was also found there.
He was also missing from his house since February 18.
During interrogation, it was found that they knew each other.
The woman had an extra-marital affair with the man and it was suspected that they had been killed by her husband. He was arrested along with a relative for the double murder, said the DCP.
However, it was only after police received information about some men allegedly being involved in a rape-cum-double murder that the mystery started to unravel.
The police got to know that some criminals, who had left the city for a month, had returned.
A police team conducted raids on the intervening night of April 26 and 27 in several villages of outer Delhi and apprehended three men — Jasbir Dabas, Devender Kumar and Manjeet, said the officer.
During interrogation, they confessed to killing the two persons in Kanjhawla area.
The police said that on February 18, the killers were consuming liquor in the fields of village Madanpur Dabas along with two other associates named Vikas and Mohit.
After Manjeet left, they found the woman and her paramour sitting in the fields. The accused overpowered the couple and raped the woman in front of her paramour, police said.
Fearing that they will be identified, they strangled the duo and disposed of their bodies at separate places.
The police have also recovered the cell phone of the deceased woman along with her paramour’s belt that was used for strangling them.
Vikas and Mohit are still absconding. The vaginal swab of the woman has been preserved and a DNA examination will be carried out, sources said.
—PTI