How a plastic bag was key in pinning Gurugram man who cut wife into pieces

PTI, Apr 29, 2023, 9:28 AM IST

Gurugram: A polythene bag became the key evidence in the solving of the murder of a woman, whose headless, half-burnt bust was found at a farm here last week.

The woman missing her head with her both legs chopped off was found in a room at a farmhouse in a village in Manesar on April 21.

The investigation led police to a 34-year-old Jitender, a former navy cook and the woman’s husband, who later confessed to killing her over an illicit affair with another woman.

“During the search of the room where the torso was found, police also found a polythene bag bearing the name of a Vishakhapatnam-based company. On enquiry, the vendor of the company informed us that they supply that type of polythene bag to the Indian Navy,” Vijay Pratap Singh, DCP, Crime, said.

Following the lead, police began searching records for missing person reports and found that a man named Jitender had reported his wife, a 28-year-old Sonia Sharma, missing on April 21.

They found that Jitender, now a suspect, worked as a navy cook and had taken retirement in 2022.

“Jitender was seen in CCTV footage carrying a fully-packed trolley bag and backpack on a bike, and returning with a deflated bag. He was apprehended and during interrogation, he confessed to the murder of his wife and was arrested,” Singh said.

According to police, Jitender revealed that he had killed his wife, with whom he has an eight-year-old, because she had got to know about his extramarital affair.

He also revealed that he had secretly married the other woman.

Sonia Sharma’s body was found from one of the two rooms built on a farm leased by Kukdola village resident Umed Singh.

According to police, Umed Singh had leased eight acres of land located by a road leading from Pachgaon Chowk to Kasan village.

The inspection of the spot revealed that the woman had been killed elsewhere and an attempt had been made to burn the torso in that room to prevent her from being identified.

After two days, police found her legs from Kherki Daula and sent them for DNA test.

Her head was recovered from a place in Manesar on Thursday in presence of the Executive Magistrate on the disclosure of the accused yesterday, police said.

A police team led by Sub-Inspector Lalit Kumar, Manesar Crime Unit in-charge, investigated the case.

According to police, Jitender killed his wife by strangling and then got down to destroying evidence.

“My wife had come to know about my extramarital relationship. To get rid of her, I decided to kill her. After strangling her, I cut her body into pieces and packed them in polythene bags. I then disposed of the body parts in different places so that the body couldn’t be identified,” he told police.

Jitender was produced in a city court on Friday and has been taken on a three-day police remand, Lalit Kumar, the Investigating Officer, said.