How to (almost) get away with murder: Delhi cop edited audio, faked vaccine certificate to hide crime for 2 years

A Delhi Police constable allegedly killed his former colleague after which the married man and father of a 12-year-old wove a complex web of lies to keep the family and authorities at bay for two years, NDTV reported.

In that time, he even led the woman's family to believe she was alive and made them "speak" with her.

Once the plot was busted, the constable, who spent years answering PCR calls, was caught with two accomplices and has been charged with murder.

Surendra Rana, a head constable for the Delhi Police, fell in love with the victim and killed her when his advances were turned down. Ravin and Rajpal, his brothers in law, helped him hide the body and cover up the crime.

Mona, the victim, joined the Delhi police as a constable in 2014, two years Rana and the two were both at the control room, where they got acquainted.

She got a job as a sub-inspector with the UP police in the meantime, after which she quit her job to prepare for the UPSC (civil services) exam from Delhi.

As per the police, Surendra kept watch on Mona even after she quit, and the victim had protested once she found out. The two allegedly argued on September 8, 2021, after which the constable took his former colleague to an isolated place where he strangled her and threw her body in a drain placing stones on it to hide the corpse.

Then, he put his plan in motion, beginning with calling Mona's family to inform them she had disappeared with an individual named Arvind. Rana stayed in touch with the family, pretending to be searching for Mona. He went to the police station along with them several times as well.

He even took a woman to get her vaccinated against coronavirus and obtained a certificate in Mona's name to show her family she was alive. Rana also made transactions from her bank account and used her SIM card to give the impression Mona was still alive and using them.

The constable, at time, even told the family he had information about where Mona was, visiting five states with them 'looking' for her. Rana also roped in Rabin who spoke to her family pretending to be 'Arvind'.

During one of the calls, the family was told the two were in Gurgaon and married. Rabin, as Arvind, told Mona's kin they were on their way to Punjab and had reached Rohtak. He further said they would come visit in 10-15 days. When the family asked to speak to the woman, Rabin as Arvind said she was scared and not willing to talk to them.

Rabin allegedly went to hotels across Haryana, Rishikesh, Dehradun, and Mussorie with prostitutes to deceive authorities and Mona's kin.

"Rabin would deliberately drop the victim's documents at the hotels and call and inform them about them. When the police traced the calls and reached the hotels, the staff would confirm that Mona was there. This led the police to think that the victim did not want to go back to her parents", Ravindra Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police, Crime, said, as per NDTV.

Rana also had many recorded audios of Mona which he edited and sent to her kin to make them believe she was alive. In one of the edited audios Mona purportedly says she does not want to return home knowing her mother is angry with her.

The Crime Branch took over the case two months back, after which officials started tracking the number Rabin used to speak with Mona's family when he pretended to be Arvind.

Yadav noted that their probe found the number actually belonged to Rajpal and after they followed several leads, they uncovered the serpentine plot.

The officer added that the police had recovered her skeletal remains from the drain where she had been dumped and they had been sent for DNA profiling to make sure of the identity.