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NEW DELHI: A 21-year-old woman, her ex-boyfriend and his friend have been arrested for allegedly killing her live-in partner, a UPSC aspirant, in north Delhi’s Timarpur earlier this month and staging it as a fire incident.According to police, she planned the murder as she suspected he possessed a hard disk containing “objectionable” videos and photographs of her.
The accused – Amrita Chauhan, her ex-boyfriend Sumit Kashyap (27) and his friend Sandeep Kumar (29) – hail from UP’s Moradabad, where they were nabbed.On Oct 6, police were alerted to a fire on a fourth-floor flat in Gandhi Vihar. Firefighters found a charred body inside, later identified as 32-year-old Ramkesh Meena. A case under sections related to causing death by negligence was registered at the time.How footage from CCTV cam foiled bid to pass off murder as fire accident CCTV footage showed two masked persons entering the building on the day of the incident. After 39 minutes, one person could be seen exiting, and at 2.57am, a woman with another individual left the premises. The fire broke out shortly afterward, raising suspicion.According to sources, the woman’s identity was established and her phone’s location found near the site of the incident. When police tried to contact her, it was switched off. Several raids in Moradabad led to her arrest on Oct 18. Cops said she confessed to the crime and revealed the involvement of Kashyap and Kumar as well as the motive. Police recovered the hard disk, a trolley bag and the victim’s shirt.Kashyap and Kumar were subsequently arrested on Oct 22 and 23, respectively. Police later invoked BNS sections related to murder, common intention, and mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance against the trio.Police said an inquiry revealed Chauhan and Meena, who met in May this year, had a live-in relationship. “She claimed he secretly recorded obscene videos and refused to delete them,” an officer said.When she shared her grievance with Kashyap, he allegedly roped in his friend to retrieve the hard disk. Chauhan, a BSc Forensic Science student and an avid watcher of crime series, hatched the plan to murder Meena and make it seem as though he died in a fire, police said.The trio allegedly thrashed and strangled Meena, before pouring oil, ghee and wine over his body. Kashyap placed a gas cylinder near the victim’s head, opened the regulator and ignited it with a lighter while Chauhan secured the flat’s iron gate from the inside, said police. They allegedly stole the hard disk, two laptops and other items belonging to Meena. About an hour later, the cylinder exploded, completely burning the victim.Confirming the arrests, DCP (North) Raja Banthia said Kashyap worked as an LPG distributor while Kumar was a graduate preparing for SSC CGL exams.