NEW DELHI: Unhappy with her married life, the wife of an Air Force sergeant murdered him with the help of her 17-year-old boyfriend, claimed the 40-year-old had died of a heart attack and went on to live with the teenager, until the postmortem called their bluff a month later.

Sudha Gupta, a teacher, and her boyfriend broke down on questioning and admitted to strangling Sergeant Ramesh Chandra at their home in Subrato Park in Delhi Cantonment on April 10 after he had passed out, having drunk from morning to noon. The couple have a three-year-old daughter, who will now join her mother in Tihar Jail on Sunday as she has no one to look after her. The teenager (name withheld) has been sent to a reformational home.

Sudha, 28, told police she was dissatisfied with her sex life since their marriage in 2008 and Chandra’s alcoholism had strained their relationship within two years. As a topper in her postgraduate exams, she aspired to a better life and began teaching at an engineering coaching institute a few months ago where she met the teenager, the son of an IAF employee. “The boy fell in love with Sudha and made advances. She fell for his flirtatious conversations and he would drop her home on his bike after work,” said a police officer, quoting her statement. “Her husband, who would often be drunk, would reprimand her.”

Soon enough, Chandra suspected Sudha of infidelity and asked her to stay away from the youth. Sudha, however, plotted to kill Chandra and move in with her boyfriend and live on her salary and the compensation amount from her husband’s death.

On April 10, Chandra, though unwell, began drinking in the morning and passed out around afternoon. Sudha called up her boyfriend and together, they strangled him. She then called in neighbours and took Chandra to hospital, telling them he had been complaining of chest pain and had collapsed suddenly.

“We received information about a person having been admitted to the station medical centre at the IAF base because of chest pain and had been declared brought dead,” said addl DCP (southwest) Dinesh Kumar Gupta. “The body was sent for postmortem and an inquiry was initiated by a team led by SHO Suresh Kumar and Subrato Park police post in-charge SI K B Jha.”

The case remained buried until May 6 when the postmortem report revealed that Chandra had died from asphyxia after being strangled to death. Immediately, a case of murder was registered and SI Jha assigned to solve the case.

When the cops visited Chandra’s house, they found it locked. The call details of Sudha’s mobile phone revealed her location in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi where she had been living with the teenager and her daughter after Chandra’s killing. Electronic evidence and local inquiry revealed that the teenager was present at the couple’s house on April 10 as well. Police said they had found a note, apparently written by Chandra, saying if anything were to happen to him, half the property would go to his daughter and the remaining to charity.

The duo were detained and questioned wherein they gave conflicting statements. They were put through sustained interrogation during which they broke down and confessed.

The case claimed a second victim on Saturday as the families of Sudha and Chandra refused to take custody of their three-year-old daughter. Police said they were trying to convince them but as things stand, she will now be moved to Tihar.