delhi

Updated: Jul 11, 2017 15:43 IST

He went to meet his wife to settle a fight and promised her a gift. When they met, they chatted for a while and then came the surprise. He lovingly asked her to turn around and close her eyes. When she did, thinking that he got her a necklace, he put a clutch wire around her neck and choked her to death.

The 24-year-old man, Manoj Kumar, allegedly bought the wire with the intention to kill Komal, whom he married two years ago. It was a love marriage but the couple developed differences within two years. He reportedly suspected Komal of having an extra-marital affair and the couple often fought over the issue. They had been living separately for the past few months.

On Friday, he asked Komal to meet him at Bonta Park in north Delhi to sort all differences. She agreed.

Before he went to Bonta Park, he reportedly bought a clutch wire from Kanjhawla with an intention to strangle her. “The couple met in the park and spoke for a while before he asked Komal to turn around and close her eyes. He told her that he has a surprise gift for her. When she turned, he strangled her using the wire. He then left her on the bench and fled the spot,” a senior police officer said.

His drunk self got him caught

Kumar then returned to Kanjhawla and sat for drinks with his friends on the roadside. After he got drunk, he started telling them about how he taught his wife a lesson. The conversation was overheard by police personnel who were patrolling the area. Finding his behaviour suspicious, they detained him at Kanjhawla police station and started questioning him.

“During questioning, Kumar confessed that he killed his wife and left her body at Bonta Park. He said he was very insecure and could not tolerate her engaging in conversations with any other man. When we asked about where he dumped the body, he said on a bench. He was so vague and could not tell us where exactly he killed her,” a police officer said. This is when the search for the body started.

Six hours, two police teams: a struggle to search the body

Teams of two police stations were put on the job to find the body. Kumar, who was drunk, forgot where he had killed her and took the police teams around the ridge area for over five hours. “All night we kept looking for the body with torches but he could not recall where he had taken her,” a police officer said.

The police then asked him to enact the entire episode right from the time he entered the park. Sniffer dogs were involved in the search operation.

“He did not even know which entrance he took to enter the area. Since the ridge area is forested and it was dark, it was difficult to find the exact spot. After six hours of intensive search involving personnel from two different police stations, we finally got to the spot and the body was recovered early on Saturday morning,” a police officer said.

Kumar has been arrested and a case of murder has been registered against him. Komal’s body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

While Kumar runs an electronic goods shop, Komal worked at a restaurant before marriage.