A 55-year-old woman named Nirmala, wife of Harendra Singh, a retired lecturer at Bhartiya Vidyalaya in Keshav Puram, Awas Vikas-1, was murdered in broad daylight after she resisted a robbery attempt in Keshav Puram.
Accused Arrested and Jewellery Recovered
Police arrested the accused, identified as Aryan alias Ishu Srivastava (19), a former acquaintance. Stolen gold jewellery weighing 153 grams, valued at approximately Rs 26 lakh, was recovered from three different locations based on his directions. Police are interrogating the accused.
Incident Details
Harendra Singh had gone to a medical store to purchase medicine at the time of the incident and learned of the murder upon his return. After the robbery and murder, DCP (West), ADCP (West), ACP, and the inspector of Kalyanpur police station reached the spot with police personnel and carried out an investigation, examining nearby CCTV cameras. A forensic team and dog squad also arrived at the scene.
CCTV footage showed a suspicious young man wearing an orange scarf entering the house and exiting after some time. The tracker dog followed a trail to the other end of the park, then back through the lane and onto the road.
Investigation and Arrest
DCP (West) SM Qasim Abidi said that police launched an investigation and questioned nearly a dozen close associates of the elderly couple, including their domestic help. The accused youth was later arrested from the Rawatpur area. Looted jewellery was also recovered from three different locations based on his directions.
Police said the accused had complete knowledge about the couple. The investigation revealed that he had been living on rent for the past five years at the other end of the park opposite the lecturer's house. About one month ago, he devised the robbery plan, after which he vacated the house and began residing in Rawatpur.
Motive and Planning
During his stay in Keshav Puram, the accused met the lecturer and his wife multiple times in the park. Both of them knew him well, and he sat and conversed with them for hours. During this period, he became acquainted with their financial status. On one occasion, when he visited the lecturer's house to fetch water, he spotted Nirmala wearing jewellery, which corrupted his intentions.
Police said that the accused knew that the lecturer used to return home about an hour after leaving, and he conducted a recce one month in advance to confirm this. On the day of the incident, he was already present in the park. As soon as the lecturer stepped out of the house, he got the door opened on the pretext of retrieving a drone from the roof and entered the house. Instead of heading toward the staircase, he followed Nirmala into the room, grabbed a Tulsi Mala, and strangled her from behind. To ensure Nirmala did not survive, he strangled her again, took the jewellery, and fled.
Accused's Background
Police interrogation revealed that accused Ishu Srivastava was employed in a private job but wanted to become wealthy quickly. He was also reportedly troubled by demands from a female friend. Police said the accused had chosen three locations to hide the looted jewellery. Some jewellery was concealed in his rented room, some was hidden in a garbage dump behind Kesco in Awas Vikas, and the remaining was hidden in Vijay Nagar.
