Days after a 45-year-old Delhi Transport Corporation employee was gunned down while heading home with his wife and 9-year-old son, police have arrested three people — his wife, his ex-wife and her daughter for allegedly planning the murder. Police said the women were caught after police recovered a deleted photo of the victim’s bike from his wife’s phone.
The victim, Sanjeev Kumar, was fired at by two bike-borne assailants on July 6. Police said the accused, identified as Geeta (54), the first wife of the victim, her daughter Komal (21), and the second wife, Geeta alias Najma (28), had been planning the murder for two-three years.
DCP (Southeast) Esha Pandey said, “Najma told us that her husband died in a road accident in Govindpuri. She didn’t say anything about his gunshot injuries. On questioning, she said Kumar had a tiff with other DTC workers and some of them had threatened to shoot him.”
Police questioned Kumar’s colleagues but could not find any leads. It was then that they suspected Najma and seized her phone. “We found a deleted photo from July 5. Najma had taken a photo of Kumar’s bike’s number plate and deleted it on the same day, which was suspicious. After we detained and questioned her again, she confessed,” said DCP Pandey.
Najma revealed that Kumar was married earlier and that his first wife lives with their three children in Dakshinpuri. Najma said she found out about Geeta around two-three years ago and tried contacting her. Geeta then sent a phone to Najma through Komal so they could be in touch, police said.
“Najma complained that Kumar was abusive and would hit her. She hid the phone at her neighbour’s house. The women hatched a plan to kill Kumar and seize his property,” said police on her alleged confession.
Over the next two years, police said the women contacted Najma’s cousin to find a contract killer. He finally found a sharpshooter who was paid Rs 15 lakh, police said.
On July 5, Najma sent the photo of the number plate to the sharpshooter and asked him to allegedly kill Kumar the next day. “The shooter and Najma’s cousin came to Govindpuri on a bike and followed Kumar. Near Govindpuri, the former pulled out his pistol and fired. The duo fled and are still on the run. We are looking for them,” added the DCP.