Second 'fridge murder': Man chopped in 10 pieces; woman, son arrested

New Delhi: In yet another bone-chilling incident, that is quite similar to the Shraddha Walkar case, a woman and her son killed her  husband, chopped off his body into 10 pieces and dumped all the parts in a New Ashok Nagar drain and the Ramlila Ground in East Delhi’s Pandav Nagar.

The Delhi police crime branch arrested the woman and her son and said the incident had occurred on May 30. Six body parts have been recovered while police teams are searching for the remaining parts.

Anjan Das, 45, was killed on May 30 by his wife Poonam, 48, and her stepson Deepak, 25, who were arrested from East Delhi’s Pandav Nagar.

The victim has a wife and eight sons in Bihar, but he hid this fact from Poonam, the police said, adding that a team will be sent there to collect DNA samples of Das’ kin to match the body parts.

The police said that after chopping Anjan Das’ body, the duo stored the body parts in their fridge and started gradually to dispose of them. Some of his body parts were found stuffed inside a bag at Ramlila Ground in East Delhi’s Kalyanpuri on June 5.

Over the next few days, his legs, thighs, skull and a forearm were recovered, following which a case was registered.

“During the search in the area for three to four days, the police recovered several body parts, including the skull. However, the body was unidentified, following which a case under the relevant sections of the IPC was registered at Pandav Nagar police station, and the investigation was taken

up,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime).

“Police teams spoke to nearby area residents and asked them about if anyone was missing but there was no luck. CCTV footage were scanned but nothing concrete could be found,” said Mr Yadav.

Suspicion eventually fell on Poonam when it was revealed that her husband was missing for the last seven to eight months but no missing complaint had been filed.

The CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood showed Deepak walking with a bag in his hand late at night. His mother Poonam was seen following him. They were captured in CCTV cameras several times while disposing of the body remains in plastic bags, said the police.

Both were interrogated and they confessed to the crime.

“On interrogation, it was revealed that the duo mother and son had hatched a conspiracy to kill him in March and then on May 30, after giving him sleeping pills in liquor, the duo stabbed him to death with a knife and dagger, at several vital parts of the body, including the neck,” said Mr Yadav.

“They then kept the body overnight to drain the body blood and on June 1, they chopped the body and started disposing of it at Ramila Ground. The body parts were also disposed of at New Ashok Nagar drain,” said Mr Yadav.

She had alleged that her husband had illicit relations and was also eyeing Deepak’s wife. She told the police that he even sold her jewellery. “Anjan Das used to have ill intentions towards my children, and that is why I did it. My son killed him with a knife, I didn’t do it,” said Poonam.

“Poonam, a native of Bihar, was first married to Sukdev Tiwari. However, Sukhdev had come to Delhi and Poonam also came later in search of him, but she was not able to find him. After some time, she married Kalu in Delhi and both had a son, Deepak. After Kalu died due to liver failure, she married Anjan Das in 2017,” said Mr Yadav.

 “Anjan Das, a resident of Kalyanpuri, used to work as a lift operator and had eight children living in Bihar,” said the police, adding that the body parts have been sent for DNA profiling and Anjan Das’ family members in Bihar are being contacted to collect DNA samples for examination.

Poonam had told the police that she came to know that Das was already married and had eight children (seven daughters and one son) from his first wife.

“Das had stopped doing any work and used all her earnings for his expenses. He started stealing her jewellery and cash and sent it to his first wife in Bihar, due to which they had quarrelled many times,” said Mr Yadav.

In March-April this year, Poonam also came to know that Das had evil designs on her divorced daughter as well as her daughter-in-law (Deepak’s wife). She alleged he even tried to molest and attempted to rape them.

“Poonam and Deepak got very frustrated and angry due to Das’ constant lecherous habits. So, in April, she along with her son hatched the conspiracy to kill Das,” said Mr Yadav.

“After killing Das, his bleeding body was kept in the room and the next morning when the blood got drained, they cleaned the room. Then they cut Das’ body into various pieces, preserved them in a fridge and later kept them in different plastic bags. Further, whenever they got the opportunity, they dumped the body pieces in plastic bags at Ramlila Ground and near Ganda Nala, New Ashok Nagar,” said the police official.

After getting rid of the body parts they cleaned the room and refrigerator using phenyl and other solutions, he added.