NEW DELHI: A 61-year-old man ended his life after allegedly killing his 53-year-old wife in their house in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj on Thursday evening.
The incident took place when the couple’s 16-year-old son was studying in an adjoining room. Preliminary police enquiry found the couple had frequent fights and this was possibly the reason for the murder.
The deceased was identified as Jahid Ali, 61, and his wife as Nazneen, 53. The couple hailed from Odisha and lived in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi.
Around 7.30pm on Thursday, some neighbours of the couple called the cops to inform them that a body could be seen hanging in the room and that of a woman bludgeoned to death lay in the house. A police team reached the site and saw Nazneen unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood while Ali’s body was hanging from the ceiling. Both the bodies were sent to a hospital where the doctors confirmed their deaths and sent them for post-mortem examination.
Ingit Pratap Singh, DCP (Southwest), said they received a call at 7.50pm about the incident from the couple’s neighbours. “Inspection of the crime scene suggested that Ali hit his wife with some heavy, blunt object and she collapsed. He continued hitting her until she died. He then went to his room and hanged himself,” Singh said.
Police disclosed that all this while the couple’s son, who is a Class XII student, was studying in the room adjoining the one where the murder took place. He heard his parents arguing. When he came later to check on his parents, he saw his mother prone on the floor and the body of father hanging from the ceiling. He rushed outside and screamed for help from his neighbours.
DCP Singh said a crime and forensics team scoured the spot for clues. “The initial findings suggest that the murder and suicide took place following one of the frequent fights between the couple. A case has been registered and all possible angles are being looked into,” he said.
Police said Ali was originally from Odisha and owned properties there. He had no job in Delhi and his wife's family often sent the family daily essentials. Some relatives claimed that the couple often had fights and a case was going on as well. According to the woman’s brother Moeem, his sister was allegedly killed by her husband who then hanged himself. “A case related to their relationship is going on and they often had quarrels. They got married in 1990,” said Moeem. “The two had, in fact, filed several complaints against each other, though nothing substantial has come of them. But today, this extreme thing happened.”
