New Delhi: Initial investigation in the alleged murder of a 27-year Haryanvi singer, found dead in Rohtak district Monday, has revealed that one of the accused, Ravi, had been planning the crime for months and waiting for an opportunity to execute it, ThePrint has learnt. That opportunity came when the woman agreed to meet the other accused, Anil, voluntarily, for a music video.
Both the accused were arrested from Haryana’s Meham town Sunday. The woman had been missing since 11 May, according to her family.
Sources in Delhi Police claimed that Ravi has revealed during investigation that he had been seeking “revenge” from the woman for a case that she had filed against him in 2019.
The two accused allegedly met the woman on the pretext of making a music video, drugged her with 10 sleeping pills, and then killed her after she became unconscious. To dispose of the body and not leave any evidence, the accused then removed her clothes and buried her in her undergarments, police sources claimed. She was killed on 11 May and buried the same day, added the sources.
“One of the accused picked her up and both of them buried her on the roadside in the area of Meham police station after killing her. A case was registered (against the two accused) after the body of the woman was recovered, under India Penal Code (IPC) sections for kidnapping and murder. No evidence for rape has been found yet,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Dwarka, Shankar Chaudhary. The post-mortem report is yet to be released, he added.
Chaudhary added that the accused were arrested after several raids conducted by the police. It was while investigating the initial missing report filed by the deceased’s family that police was alerted about the accused’s alleged involvement in the case. The police had registered a missing complaint on 14 May, and a case of murder and kidnapping was registered on 22 May.
Sources in Delhi Police confirmed that Ravi had been accused of rape by the deceased in 2019 and arrested in the case, but was released on bail six to eight months ago. The case is still subjudice.
He had been allegedly waiting for a chance to seek revenge, claimed the sources, which presented itself when the woman allegedly agreed to meet Anil voluntarily, for a music video. Both Ravi and Anil are aged in their twenties and worked together in the same finance company, sources said.
According to the woman’s family, she would earlier sing with Ravi, and had also been in a relationship with him.
“They used to sing together and were in a relationship about three years ago, and planned to get married. However, it was called off later. Ravi had assaulted my sister in 2019. He had raped her and later said that he would marry her, but didn’t keep his word, after which we lodged the (rape) case,” the woman’s brother alleged.
Meanwhile, police sources claimed that “the accused have said during interrogation that the victim was allegedly blackmailing them for money”.
The woman’s family has denied these claims.
The family claimed that they didn’t know much about Anil, since he was a resident of a different village.
Alleging delay in fling of report when they approached the police on 13 May to complain that the woman was missing, the family also claimed negligence in investigations. Members of the deceased’s family and Bhim Army workers staged a protest outside the Delhi Commission for Women’s office Wednesday and submitted a demand for a “proper investigation in the case, a government job for one member of the family and compensation of Rs. 1 crore.”
The deceased had been the sole breadwinner in a family of eight, which included her parents and six siblings.
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Running from pillar to post
A resident of Jaffarpur Kalan near Delhi’s Najafgarh area, the 27-year-old had been the eldest of five sisters and also had a brother.
A commerce graduate, according to her family, she held a job in civil defence and made YouTube music videos on the side, to support her family.
Ever since she was found dead Monday, about 11 days after she allegedly went missing, her mother, and one of her sisters have been doing the rounds of police station to seek justice. Her father is old and ailing, said the family.
According to the deceased’s brother, the didn’t file a missing report on the day she ‘disappeared’, because when they called her and found her mobile switched off, they assumed the device had run out of charge and were waiting for her return.
“We didn’t initially suspect that something was wrong. We waited for her to return till the next day and only went to the JK (Jaffarpur Kalan) police station on 13 May to file the complaint. The police had said they had filed it, but officially the complaint was registered on the 14 May. That’s day mentioned in our copy of the complaint,” said the deceased’s brother.
The family alleged that the police at Jaffurpur station had been lax in the investigation, prompting the deceased’s sister to try her own ways to locate her.
“We tried to locate her through her Gmail account and got CCTV footage from a dhaba (roadside eatery) where she could be seen being slapped and dragged into a white WagonR car by Ravi and Anil (the accused),” said a cousin, who has been accompanying the deceased’s mother and sister on their visits to the police station.
Details collected by the deceased’s sister, including the CCTV footage from the dhaba was shared by them with the police, claimed the deceased’s cousin, alleging that the police was still of no help.
He also alleged that when the body was found, the police refused to arrange for a car for its transportation, and “asked us to get the body ourselves. They said getting a car for this will require them to get 50 signatures (reference to a long-drawn official process)”.
The family claimed that the police had initially refused to file an FIR (for murder) even after the body was found, forcing them to seek help from the Bhim Sena. The FIR was eventually filed after a protest staged by Bhim Sena members
“The police have not been helpful in the case. They have denied any sexual assault. But I saw her body — there were bruises on her face, her nose was broken. They ( the accused) had tried to torture first and also attacked her with acid,” said the sister.
She added: “All this would not have happened if the police had taken action before. But we will not rest till my sister gets justice.”
Referring to the woman’s state of undress when her body was found, her cousin said, “It took us five-ten minutes to recognise her. It was a thread she wore around her ankle that finally made us realise our sister had been found dead.”
He alleged: “It is because we are poor and Dalits that we were treated this way. If the victim was from a rich and upper caste family, ministers would have come themselves to meet the family.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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