Delhi man kills wife; Police wait outside red zone to arrest him

Bizarre are the times! A 39-year-old woman is murdered in a COVID-19 containment zone, the accused husband calls police to confess and the investigators wait for him to walk out of the red zone to arrest him.

The incident took place in West Delhi's Madipur area on Saturday early morning and police had to put their heads together on how to deal with the situation in a containment zone, which none of the investigators had anticipated.

It all started with police receiving a call at 3:56 am from Rahisul Alam, a street vendor selling footwears, telling them that he has murdered his 39-year-old wife Gulshan, whom he married just three months ago, over an argument. It was their second marriage and the bone of contention was the future of their children from their first marriages.

Police immediately rushed to the spot but found that the crime scene was in a containment zone. According to investigators, the accused was asked to come out of the containment area and was arrested only after he did so. Alam was later sent to isolation in custody.

"He had a fight with his wife during which he hit her with a stick on head after which due to head injury she died on the spot. Fight broke on the question of future of their children, who reside at their native village in Bihar's Motihari, from their respective earlier marriages," a senior police official said.

The locality was declared a containment area after a couple of COVID-19 cases were detected and soon after realising that the crime scene was in a red zone, police immediately informed Sub Divisional Magistrate and disaster management authorities.

The investigating teams entered the zone only after wearing Personal Protection Equipment to examine the crime scene and collect evidence. Before the teams entered the zone, the house and nearby area, which is densely populated with average size of houses being 12.50 yards in multi-storeyed buildings, were sanitised by Delhi Jal Board.

Investigators said it was a unique experience for them as they have not worked in such circumstances. "We had to scramble through the SOP after we received the call from Alam. We had to wait outside for him to walk in. Though this was not COVID-19 related death, her body was wrapped in several layers and the house was also sanitised," the official said.