Murderer was victim of sexual abuse

A 25-year-old civil services aspirant was arrested by the Delhi police on Saturday for allegedly murdering a retired government officer in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar to stop her sexual exploitation.

Police said the woman had murdered the victim out of “anger” over “exploitation and blackmail” by him and his associates for the past two years on the pretext of getting her a government job.

The accused, who was seen in CCTV footage taking a television set from the victim’s flat, was detained by the police from Palam and arrested after she “admitted” she had murdered 64-year-old Vijaykumar PB, who retired from Central Government Health Services (CGHS) in 2011, said DCP (East) Rishi Pal.

During interrogation, the woman claimed Vijaykumar and two of his associates, who were all about the same age, sexually exploited her and blackmailed her into continuing a physical relationship with them, said sources privy to the investigation.

The accused visited Vijaykumar at his Samachar Apartment flat on July 20. They had tea after which she stabbed him multiple times with a kitchen knife in “anger and frustration” over her continued exploitation.

“The victim had called on the accused at his flat at Samachar Apartment on July 20. She was seen in CCTV footage coming to the apartment at 10 am, and two hours later she was seen going out carrying an LED television she had picked up from the victim’s flat,” the DCP said.

“She later dumped the LED TV in a Najafgarh drain. She claimed that Vijaykumar used to blackmail her by saying the LED TV stored their naked videos,” said a source close to the investigation.

It was her first visit to the apartment complex, where the victim had moved in March from Lodhi Colony.

The woman has claimed that Vijaykumar’s two companions, who are also senior government officials, also exploited her, the sources said. She claimed that she was blackmailed by the victim, who had threatened to defame her with a video clip he had shot with her, they said. The accused, a History honours graduate who lived as a PG in Mukherji Nagar and was preparing for the civil services exams, had come in contact with Vijaykumar in October 2014.

Vijaykumar was introduced to her as “Pradip” by a woman who told her that he could help her get a job. In two years, the victim allegedly met the accused seven times at various places, including at a Lodhi Colony government residence.

The officer, however, said the claims of the accused that she was sexually exploited and blackmailed were under investigation.

DCP Pal said the woman may have picked up the television from the victim’s flat to mislead investigators into believing the incident was a robbery-cum-murder case, the officer said.

The woman belongs to Basti district in UP and had come to Delhi in 2014. In January this year she married a man who works with a government department.

Earlier, the police showed the CCTV footage to residents and the victim’s kin, but the woman could not be identified. Eight teams of the East district police worked on the case and hundreds of mobile numbers were analysed, the officer added.

Further investigations are on to verify the woman’s claims and identify other persons she has accused of exploiting her.