Representative image of a dead body.
Credit: iStock Photo
New Delhi: The woman, who early this month killed her 32-year-old live-in partner in his flat in north Delhi's Gandhi Vihar, used oil, ghee and wine to burn the body, police said on Monday.
The Delhi Police has arrested the woman, identified as Amrita Chauhan (21), and two others in connection with the murder, days after the charred body of Ramkesh Meena, a UPSC aspirant, was found in his flat.
The police said prime accused Amrita, a forensic science student, along with her former boyfriend Sumit Kashyap (27) and their associate Sandeep Kumar (29), strangled Meena to death and poured oil, ghee and wine on his body to ensure it burned completely.
"She then used her forensic science knowledge to stage the incident as an accidental fire," a senior police officer said, adding that all three accused are residents of Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad.
"Amrita, who was in a live-in relationship with deceased Ramkesh Meena, planned the murder along with her former boyfriend Sumit and his friend Sandeep to retrieve a hard disk allegedly containing her obscene videos," said the officer.
The officer further said that the incident took place on October 6 when a fire was reported at a fourth-floor flat in Gandhi Vihar. After the blaze was doused, police found the charred body of Meena.
Initially, a case was registered under relevant provisions, but suspicions grew after forensic teams found inconsistencies in the fire pattern.
The team scanned CCTV footage showing two masked men entering the building on the night of October 5, followed later by Amrita and another man. Minutes after they left, the fire broke out, the police said.
Analysis of call data records further confirmed Amrita's mobile phone location near the crime scene at the time of the incident, the officer said.
"As suspicions mounted, a police team began tracking Amrita's movements. After extensive raids, she was apprehended from Moradabad on October 18. During interrogation, she broke down and confessed to having planned the killing with Sumit and Sandeep," he said.
According to the police, Amrita said she had discovered that Meena had secretly recorded intimate videos of her and stored them on a hard disk. When he refused to delete them, she approached her ex-boyfriend Sumit, who became enraged and agreed to help her take revenge, the officer said.
The trio then hatched a plan to eliminate Meena in such a way that it would appear as a fire tragedy, he said.
"On the intervening night of October 5 and 6, they went to Meena's flat. While Sumit and Sandeep strangled him, Amrita helped pour oil, ghee and wine on the body to ensure it would burn completely," he added.
The police said Sumit, who worked as an LPG distributor, was aware how long the gas cylinder will take to explode. He took out a gas cylinder from kitchen and placed it near head of the victim after opening the nob of the regulator and ignited.
"Thereafter, they removed net from the iron gate of the flat and Amrita locked the gate from inside by putting her hand inside the removed net. They also took away the hard disc, two laptops and belongings of the deceased.
"After about one hour, the cylinder exploded and the body was charred," the officer said.
Following Amrita's arrest, the police recovered a hard disk, a trolley bag and a shirt belonging to the deceased.
On October 21, co-accused Sumit was apprehended from Moradabad, and his mobile phone used during the crime was seized. Two days later, another accused Sandeep was also nabbed, the police said.