'Mother, son killed husband in Delhi over suspicion that he was...': Police reveals horrifying details of Pandav Nagar murder

New Delhi: In yet another chilling murder in Delhi, a woman and her son killed her husband, chopped his body into 10 pieces, and kept them in a fridge before dumping them across the capital, police said on Monday (November 28, 2022). The deceased, who has been identified as Anjan Das, 45, was killed on May 30 by his second wife Poonam, 48, and 25-year-old stepson Deepak, who were arrested from east Delhi's Pandav Nagar. According to police, some of Das' body parts were found stuffed inside a bag at the Ramlila Ground in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri on June 5. Over the next few days, his legs, thighs, skull and forearm were recovered following which a case was registered under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Pandav Nagar Police Station.

The victim, as per police, had a wife and eight sons in Bihar, but he hid this fact from Poonam. Police said that a team will be sent to Bihar to collect DNA samples of Das' kin to match the body parts.

Police also revealed that the mother-son duo killed Das over suspicion that he was eyeing his stepdaughter and stepson's wife.

The accused told police that they mixed sleeping pills in Das' drink and after he fell unconscious, they used a knife and a dagger to kill him. They then slit his throat and waited for the blood to drain out completely before chopping it into pieces.

"They disposed of the body parts at different places in east Delhi over a period of three to four days and buried the skull," police said.

Following the recovery of body parts in June, police analysed CCTV footage of the area and conducted door-to-door verification. The body was then later identified as that of Das which led police to Poonam and Deepak.

A woman along with her son arrested by Crime Branch in Delhi's Pandav Nagar for murdering her husband. They chopped off body in several pieces,kept in refrigerator & used to dispose of pieces in nearby ground: Delhi Police Crime Branch

(CCTV visuals confirmed by police) pic.twitter.com/QD3o5RwF8X — ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2022

Police became suspicious of the two after realising that they had not lodged a missing person complaint for Das and when questioned, there were discrepancies in their statements. Subsequently, they confessed to the killing, police said.

According to police, Poonam was married off when she was around 14 years old to a person named Sukhdev Tiwari who later deserted her and came to Delhi. She too landed in the capital in search of her husband and met one Kallu with whom she entered into a live-in relationship, police stated.

She then met Das and developed a liking for him. In 2016, Kallu passed away due to liver failure and she then married Das in 2017.

When she got married to Das, she was not aware that he had a family in Bihar.

Delhi's Pandav Nagar murder victim worked as a lift operator

Police also said that Anjan Das worked as a lift operator. He had also in the past sold off Poonam's jewelry and sent the money to his family in Bihar, police said.

The duo had begun plotting the murder around March-April, police said.

Police also revealed that the fridge used for storing Das' body parts has been seized.

Pandav Nagar murder case bears eerily similarities with killing of Shraddha Walkar

It is noteworthy that the Pandav Nagar murder case bears eerily similarities with the killing of 26-year-old Shraddha Walkar in the national capital.

Walkar was killed after a confrontation with her 28-year-old live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala who then sawed her body into 35 pieces and kept them in a 300-liter fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city.

Poonawala was then arrested on November 12.

(With agency inputs)