When the mysterious case of the murder of a Delhi University assistant professor at her home in East Delhi was solved, the details shared by investigators were truly shocking. Police said it was a dispute over the sale of the professor’s ancestral home that turned ugly and ultimately led to her murder by two of her distant relatives on June 4.
The 45-year-old professor was found dead at her home in Delhi’s Vasundhara area with slits on her wrists and serious head and facial injuries.
A property dispute led to murder
The police said that the accused, who were arrested, had been living as tenants in the deceased professor’s ancestral property in Burdwan, West Bengal since 2023, according to news agency PTI.
The house was allocated to the deceased professor through a family settlement. “The victim repeatedly asked them to vacate the building, which led to a long-term dispute,” police were quoted as saying.
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The couple wanted to buy this property, and while the professor’s parents and two brothers were willing to sell it, she was reluctant to sell it.
“However, the professor was against the family’s decision to sell their ancestral property. She was also against selling their house in Kolkata to the tenant couple. The couple found her to be the main obstacle. The two were angry because despite their repeated requests, the professor did not give her consent to sell the house. That is why they traveled to Delhi, killed her on Wednesday, and returned to Kolkata,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range) Ajit Kumar Singla told HT.
The accused traveled 1,400 kilometers to carry out the murder
Police found that the victim had recently issued a final warning to the family to vacate the property, after which they conspired to eliminate her and traveled to Delhi, about 1,400 km away, on June 3 to prepare to carry out the crime, PTI reported.
The police said that the accused, known to the victim, was able to enter the apartment on the sixth floor without resistance. Initial investigations indicated that a property dispute was the main motive behind the murder.
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The professor was living alone in the apartment after separating from her husband in 2022. During the investigation, the police also questioned her husband, who currently lives in Bengaluru.
The minor son accompanied the accused couple
CCTV footage revealed that the accused couple were accompanied by their minor son when they reached a high-rise building in Delhi to kill the DU professor, which also showed them moving through the building while concealing their identities and using stairs and lifts at different stages.
The police said that it was found that the accused carried the murder weapon with them and killed the woman inside her apartment.
The accused allegedly took several steps to avoid detection.
Surveillance camera footage showed them changing their clothes after the crime and hiding their faces while moving in and around the residential complex.
After committing the crime, the family rented a taxi and a rickshaw to flee the area.
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“They traveled to Anand Vihar and then proceeded to New Delhi railway station, where they boarded the Purva Express train at around 5.40 pm on June 3. They reached Burdwan the next day,” the police officer said.
This breakthrough came after investigators arrested the taxi driver who transported the suspects and analyzed the details of the trip to identify the passengers.
Police examined footage and records of nearly 200 visitors who entered the apartment complex on the day of the murder and shortlisted 13 suspects for detailed screening.
With inputs from Karan Pratap Singh
