Juvenile nabbed for twin murders in Delhi’s Patel Nagar

A pendant, a bite mark on his leg and a selfie taken a few minutes before the murder helped police on Saturday apprehend the juvenile brother-in-law of the 26-year-old woman who was found dead with her throat slit at her Patel Nagar house in central Delhi on Thursday evening.

Police said the 17-year-old boy molested the woman and later murdered her. The woman’s four-year-old son, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan in the house, was killed because he had witnessed the crime, police said.

On Thursday, the police were informed of the four-year-old killing himself by hanging in his third floor house in Patel Nagar. “Within minutes, we received another call that reported that the child’s mother’s body was found”,” said deputy commissioner of police (central) MS Randhava.

“Inspection of the crime scene suggested that there was no break-in and, therefore, the killer was known to the family. Preliminary probe revealed that the juvenile brother-in-law of the woman was the last person to have seen the woman. Forensics teams also spotted bite marks on the legs of juvenile and scratch injuries on his face, neck and back,” the DCP said.

The police also recovered the woman’s mobile phone. “One blood stained locket that belonged to the juvenile was also recovered. When we checked the mobile phone, we found that the juvenile had taken a selfie from it, just a few minutes before the woman’s murder was reported,” Randhava said.

He said their suspicion on the juvenile further strengthened and he was detained for questioning.

“When he was confronted with the evidence, he confessed to having killed the woman and her son,” the officer said.

Randhava said the juvenile told them that he tried to molest his sister-in-law. “He tried to overpower her, which is when he received the minor injuries. He said the woman slapped him. In a rage, he picked up a grinding stone from the kitchen and smashed it onto her head repeatedly until she fell unconscious,” the DCP said.

The police officer said, juvenile told them that because of the scuffle, the woman’s four-year-old son who was sleeping in the house woke up.

“Afraid that the child may have witnessed the attack, he said he strangled the child. He then got onto the bed and hanged the child from the ceiling fan to make it look like a suicide. By the time, the woman regained consciousness. On seeing her son being hanged she rushed to save him, biting the juvenile’s leg to force him to let the child go,” Randhava said.

The DCP said, the juvenile then attacked her. “He said he slit the throat of the woman using a kitchen knife. He washed the blood stains on his person in the bathroom and left the spot, bolting it from outside, police said.

Police said that the juvenile had come to live with the woman and his brother just 20 days back from their native village in Mujaffarpur Bihar.