Another Shraddha Walkar-like murder: How mother, son plotted to kill Delhi man, then stored body parts in fridge

In a case that puts one in mind of the Shraddha Walkar murder, a woman and her son allegedly killed her husband, cut his body into pieces and kept them in a fridge before scattering them across east Delhi. Anjan Das (45) was murdered in May allegedly by his wife Poonam (48) and stepson Deepak (25) who were arrested from east Delhi’s Pandav Nagar. His body parts were stuffed inside a bag at the Ramlila Ground in east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri on 5 June, police said. Over the next few days, his legs, thighs, skull and a 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. Let’s take a closer look at this case: What happened? Das, who worked as a lift operator, hid the fact that he had a wife and eight sons in Bihar from Poonam. As per NDTV, Poonam was enraged after she found out that Das sold her jewellery and sent the money to his first wife.

Poonam then recruited Deepak, her son from a previous marriage, into the murder plot.

According to police, Poonam was married off when she was around 14-years-old to one 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 said. She then met Das and developed feelings for him. In 2016, Kallu passed away due to liver failure and she married Das the following year in 2017, police said. The duo began plotting the murder around March-April, police said. Deepak has told police he went along with Poonam’s plan because Das allegedly harassed his wife, as per NDTV. As per News18, Yadav, added: “Situation in Anjan’s family worsened after Deepak got married and deceased use to have ill intentions towards his wife and one of Deepak’s sisters, who used to live with them. Anjan also took all their earnings but was not willing to working himself." How was the murder committed? Poonam and Deepak told police that they mixed sleeping pills in Das’ drink. 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 and storing the body in a fridge. As per India Today, the body was cut to pieces up using a knife and another sharp weapon – both of which were kept in the freezer.

The sharp weapon has been recovered and a search is on to find the knife, police added.

The mother and son painted the house after storing the body parts in the fridge to disguise the smell, sources said. As per Indian Express, investigators said the body parts were then dumped in Pandav Nagar and Trilokpuri areas. During the interrogation, Poonam said she was “fed up” with Das, as per the police. How did police crack the murder? Police found human parts stuffed in a bag in East Delhi’s Ramlila ground in June, as per The Print. The police officers have recovered six pieces, but the torso is still missing, sources told India Today. Following the recovery of body parts, police analysed CCTV footage of the area and conducted door-to-door verification. The parts were later identified as that of Das which led police to Poonam and Deepak. Police became suspicious of the two after realising that they had not lodged a missing persons complaint for Das and when questioned, there were discrepancies in their statements.

As per News18, Poonam claimed Anjan had gone to his native village.

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Subsequently, they confessed to the killing, police said. Police have CCTV footage showing Deepak walking with a bag in his hand late at night on one of his trips to throw away the pieces, as per India Today. A team will be sent to Bihar to collect DNA samples of Das’ kin to match the body parts. The case bears eerily similarities with the murder of 26-year-old Walkar in the national capital. Walkar was allegedly 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-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city. The Delhi Police arrested Poonawala on 12 November. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.