A 50-year-old dermatologist residing in an upscale area of south Delhi allegedly killed his domestic worker on Thursday by beating her with a bat and a knife because he thought she “brought bad energy” into the house.
HT had earlier reported that the accused, identified as Dr Manish Gupta, beat up his housemaid with a bat and stabbed her with a sharp object in his apartment in Mount Kailash. The doctor was arrested and questioned by police on Thursday.
During interrogation, Gupta reportedly revealed that he wanted to remove the victim, Meena Haldar, from her job at his house, but was upset that no one was listening to him.
“He told us that he wanted to remove Meena from the job but his family members refused to do so. He was upset and felt bad that no one was listening to him. He also told us that he suspected Meena was bringing bad energy into the house and that this affected his son’s studies,” a senior police officer who declined to be named told HT.
Another police officer said: “The doctor felt pain because no one in his family was listening to him and attacked the maid when he found her on the balcony.”
The doctor followed the victim to the balcony and attacked her with the bat
Dr Gupta, who was staying with his wife – also a doctor – and son, confessed to committing the crime, citing previous disagreements with the family over Haldar. At around 10.15 am on Thursday morning, the accused’s wife Dr. Tina Gupta left for work, while Gupta and his son were at home.
Haldar entered the house between 10.30 and 10.45 am, washed the clothes and went to the balcony to dry them. Dr Gupta allegedly followed her, according to police, and attacked her between 11.15am and 11.30am. The accused hit Haldar on the head with a bat and she fell to the ground, then stabbed her with the knife. Then he went downstairs and kept the weapon near the stairs. Police later found the blood-stained weapons.
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Another resident of the building opposite Gupta’s apartment saw the woman lying on the balcony in a pool of blood and made a PCR call.
“She never picked up her papers and showed up on time.”
The victim, who lived in Prakash Mohalla area bordering Mount Kailash and East Kailash, is survived by her husband, son Robin and daughter-in-law Saptami. Robin, who works at a shop in Nehru Place, said his mother “worked hard to run the household for years” when he was a child.
“She never took her leave, she always came on time. She always listened to them (the Guptas). Why did they do this?” He said, demanding answers. He said his mother always spoke highly of the family and worked there for 10 to 12 years.
More than 50 to 60 domestic workers gathered outside the apartment at noon and staged a protest. The workers got into an argument with the police after they were not allowed to see the body. The police took the woman’s son to AIIMS to see her body.
