The 38-year-old daughter of a farmhouse owner was allegedly strangled by her 30-year-old boyfriend in an inebriated state after having sex inside a car parked near a shopping complex in south Delhi’s Sheikh Sarai. He then took her naked body to her family at their Malviya Nagar home and confessed.

Mail Today has learnt that a month before the incident, the woman, who is a divorcee, aborted the accused’s child. Since then, she was purportedly pushing him to get married.

Rita Ahuja (name changed) had separated from her husband with whom she had a 12-year-old son. The boy lives with his grandparents in Malviya Nagar. She and the accused, Shahbad Khan, worked together at a healthcare company.

He allegedly befriended her eight months ago on the pretext of marriage. “In July, when Rita conceived, he forced her to abort the child. Since then, she was pushing him to get married. But he started ignoring her. On the day of the incident, they went out and consumed alcohol. They had a heated argument over marriage and after having sex in the car he strangled her,” said Mahesh Kumar (name changed), an associate of Rita.

The incident took place on August 27 last year and the accused has now been sent into judicial custody. The FIR accessed by Mail Today says Khan, a resident of Ghaziabad, confessed and claimed that at the time of the incident both of them were drunk.

“While having sex at the front seat of the car, he strangled her. A few hours later, when he realised that he had killed Rita, he rushed her to the latter’s family and informed them about the incident,” it says, quoting Khan’s statement.

The accused was arrested after Rita’s father lodged a police complaint at Malviya Nagar police station last year. “He has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code after he confessed the crime,” said a police official close to investigation.

Rita’s father told the police that his daughter and the accused consumed alcohol around 1am that night and parked the car at Sheikh Sarai. “They had a heated argument and that is when Khan strangled her,” Rita’s father told the police, quoting Khan’s statement when he brought the body to their residence.

The victim’s family along with Khan rushed her to AIIMS where she was declared brought dead. Speaking to Mail Today, the doctors, who conducted the autopsy, on the condition of anonymity said, “The accused narrated to us the sequence of incident. He confessed that they were having sex inside the parked car and he strangled her. During medical examination, it was learnt that he strangled her with such a force that her neck bones were broken. And she died immediately due asphyxiation (lack of oxygen).”

It has been learnt that the deceased Rita, 38, was a resident of South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar. She was the mother of a 12-year-old boy who is studying in a reputed school in south Delhi.

Rita tied the knot in 2002 in what was a love marriage. Her husband worked in a top airline and was often out of town. After a few years, she learnt that he was having an affair.

Speaking to Mail Today, Rita’s father claimed that the family did not know about her relationship with Khan. “Recently, we learnt that Khan used my daughter only for money. Rita was supposed to give him Rs 60,000 but due to some reason she failed,” he alleged.

Khan is now lodged in Tihar jail. His family could not be reached for comments. Senior police officials of south Delhi district were also mum on the issue.