Man, wife held for killing teenaged niece and stuffing body inside bed

New Delhi: A man and his wife were arrested for killing their 17-year-old niece in North East Delhi's Nand Nagri area. The investigators are probing whether there was any attempt of sexual assault at the time of the murder. Police identified the accused as Vakeel Podar (51) and his 45-year-old wife. Both are natives of Bihar and were living in Nand Nagri.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Ved Prakash Surya said on October 25 around 11 am, information was received regarding a body found stuffed in a bed at a house in the Leprosy Colony complex at Tahirpur. "The body was in a highly decomposed state and was identified as her niece by Podar's wife," he said.

It was revealed after local inquiries that the victim was living with her relatives and since the afternoon of October 23, she was not seen by anyone in the area.

A team under inspector Anupam Bhushan, (SHO Nand Nagri) started their investigation. During the initial examination, Podar's wife claimed that on October 23, she left for begging at 5:30 am and returned at approx 12:30 pm. When she didn't find her niece at home, she enquired from her husband, who in turn informed her that he had left their niece in an orphanage at Ghaziabad.

During the examination, it had also come to the fore that her husband Poddar was not seen in the locality since October 23.

"During inquiry, it came to light that no girl of the said name was brought at Anathalaya on October 23. Investigation revealed that Podar was sexually inclined towards the victim and the victim had confided the same to one of the neighbours," the DCP said. It also came to light that Podar's wife was also aware that he had tried to molest the victim on September 28. Thus, a search for Podar was started as he was found absconding.

Later, Podar was arrested from Bihar. Podar purportedly confessed that the victim was his sister-in-law's daughter. He had tried to make a physical relationship with her one month ago but she objected and condemned it. "When his wife came to know about the incident, she confronted her husband and they had a quarrel," the official said. Although Podar wanted the victim to stay with them, it was decided that the victim should be sent to the village, to which the victim refused since she wanted to pursue her studies and complete her education. On this issue, Poddar and his wife had clashed several

times.

On October 23, Podar's wife, out of anger, asked Podar to kill the victim. Vakeel assured her that he will kill the victim that day itself and asked his wife to stay outside and keep a watch on passers-by. Podar went inside the room while she was asleep and hit the victim on her head with an iron rod kept in the room. The victim started bleeding, so he wrapped her in a blanket till she died. He stuffed the dead body in the box of the bed and called his wife inside. Both of them washed the room and the iron rod.