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On October 6, a fire broke out on the fourth floor of a flat in Gandhi Vihar in North Delhi’s Timarpur. Fire tenders were dispatched, the blaze was doused. When police inspecting the premises, they discovered the charred body of a man.
Police lodged a case under sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 106(1) death by negligence of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
But Meena’s family raised doubts about the circumstances of his death. So, the police decided to dig deeper; they checked CCTV footage and spotted something suspicious.
On the night of the incident, three people, with their faces covered, entered the building. After 39 minutes, one person walked out. At 2.57 am, a woman, along with another person, was seen leaving the building. The fire occurred shortly after their departure, police said.
A police team led by Inspector Pankaj Tomar, under the supervision of Inspector Praveen Kumar, Station House Officer, Timarpur, got to work.
On Sunday, they said they arrested three people for the crime: Meena’s live-in partner Amrita Chauhan (21), a BSC forensic science student; and her former boyfriend Sumit Kashyap (27). The third person was an LPG gas cylinder distributor named Sandeep Kumar (29), who was also an SSC/CGL aspirant.
According to police, the trio allegedly strangled Meena to death and burnt his body by staging a cylinder blast at his flat to make it look like an accident.
But why would Meena’s girlfriend team up with her ex-boyfriend to kill him?
Police said it was because the deceased had allegedly stored obscene videos of the woman.
It all started with a chance meeting at a corporate office in Noida in July. Amrita was interviewing for the position of a receptionist. Meena was hanging around, a police officer said.
The duo kept in touch. They spoke for about a month, police said, before falling for each other and moving in together in August.
“They moved to Meena’s flat in Timarpur, where he was preparing for the UPSC…,” a police officer said.
In late September, Amrita found that Meena had saved some of their intimate videos on a hard disk that he kept with himself. “She asked him to delete them… but Meena refused, assuring her that he won’t share it with anyone,” a police officer said.
Amrita went to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, her hometown. Still worried about the videos, she couldn’t help but share her troubles with her ex- boyfriend, Sumit.
“When Amrita got to know about these videos, she asked Meena to delete them. But the deceased made a false and fabricated story and refused to do so. Amrita told Sumit about it, who became angry and decided to take revenge on the deceased,” said Raja Banthia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North District).
A week before the incident, Sumit, Amrita and Sandeep reached Timarpur. Their plan? To stage a robbery and steal the hard disk, the police said.
“Initially, Amrita planned on just going inside the house, finding the hard disk and coming back. But she couldn’t find it. The next day, they went again. This time, they tied Meena up in a chair and looked for the disk,” a police officer said.
But Meena resisted. “They tried to gag him with a cloth, but he wouldn’t stay still. Frustrated, Sumit used a phone charger to allegedly strangle Meena. He died,” the officer said.
Police said their investigation revealed that the accused then planned to make the murder appear as a fire accident. Since Amrita was a forensic science student and a fan of crime web series, police said, she reportedly had ideas on how to stage the death as an accidental fire.
After they allegedly killed Meena, police said they poured oil, ghee, and wine on his body. “Sumit carried the gas cylinder from the kitchen, placed it near the deceased’s head, opened the regulator knob, and started a fire using a lighter,” DCP Banthia said.
The accused then removed the net from the iron main door, locked it from the inside, and fled with a hard disk, two laptops, and other belongings of the victim.
An hour later, the gas cylinder exploded, burning the victim’s body, police said.
How did police zero in on the suspects?
“During the investigation, the police team collected Amrita’s call detail records and analysed them. It was revealed that at the time of the incident, her mobile phone’s location placed her near E-Block, Gandhi Vihar — where Meena lived. This raised suspicion,” DCP Banthia said.
After multiple raids in Moradabad, Amrita was arrested on October 18.
During questioning, police said she admitted to the crime, and alleged that Meena had stored her private videos and images on a hard disc. Police recovered the said hard disc, a trolley bag, and a shirt belonging to the deceased.
On October 21, Sumit was apprehended from Moradabad and his mobile phone, used during the commission of the offence, was recovered. Sandeep was arrested on October 23.
All three are residents of Moradabad. Police said further investigation is underway.
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