Man drugs wife, sets her ablaze

Chandigarh, July 17
A 32-year-old man employed with a fast food joint in the city murdered his wife in connivance with his girlfriend and then dumped her body in the bushes in a deserted area in Hoshiarpur. The victim, Pooja, was given a heavy dose of sedatives and was strangled thrice while being taken in a car from Chandigarh to Hoshiarpur. She was unconsciousness and a seat belt was fastened around her. They set her afire and dumped her body in the bushes.
The incident occurred on July 13. A case was registered today after the police investigated the missing report lodged by the victim’s family and found that the 30-year-old woman, Suresh Kumari, alias Pooja, a resident of Sector 20, was killed due to strained relations with her husband.
The police arrested her husband Vajinder, who is employed as a manager in Nik Bakers in Sector 35, and Renu, his girlfriend, who stays as a paying guest in Sector 20. Pooja’s partially charred body was recovered by a police team from Hoshiarpur today.
Renu hails from Hoshiarpur and was looking for a job. She is also married, but is not living with her husband.
The police said Vajinder married Pooja in 2008 and it was a love marriage. Relations between the couple turned sour and they used to fight often. Vajinder had an affair with Renu, whom he met while they were working together at Dominos in Jalandhar two years ago. Vajinder was forcing Pooja to divorce him so that he could marry Renu, but Pooja refused to do so. Vajinder then planned to eliminate her in connivance with Renu.

‘Missing’ report

Pooja was employed as a computer data operator at a shop in Khuda Alisher village. She had set off to work on July 13 and failed to return home. Her father-in-law Balwinder Pal lodged a missing person report at the Sector 19 police station.

The family also launched a hunt to look for their daughter-in-law. Interestingly, Vajender, too, accompanied the police and his family to look for his wife on July 14 and 15.

The co-accused

Renu hails from Hoshiarpur and was looking for a job. She is also married, but is not staying with her husband.

The breakthrough

On July 16, Pooja’s brother Prem Chand, a resident of Rampur in Shimla, reported to the police that he suspected that Vajinder had killed his sister and disposed of her body. The police rounded up Vajinder and on sustained interrogation, he disclosed that he had murdered her as he was having an affair with Renu.

The confession

The accused told the police that at 10 am on July 13, he picked up Pooja from the road separating Sectors 19 and 20. He then took her towards Sector 9 and gave her a soft drink laced with sedatives. After she fell unconscious, he picked up Renu and set off for Hoshiarpur. Both of them strangled her thrice on the way and bought a litre of petrol. They then set her afire near Nisrala choe at Meghowal village in Hoshiarpur. before dumping the body in the bushes. The accused will be produced in court tomorrow.