Live-in partner murder: Killer tried to mask the stench, lit incense sticks; told neighbours it was a dead rat

This enraged him so much that he allegedly killed his wife, the police told The Indian Express.

“The accused, Jitendra alias Bobby, could not bear a remark against his daughter from a previous marriage,” Crime Branch Sub-Inspector Deepak Khatri, who is the investigating officer of the case, said.

Police said Jitendra allegedly strangled Sonia (40), his live-in partner of 10 years, with a rope on April 21, he said.

The deceased’s body was found in a decomposed state on Saturday. On Tuesday, the Crime Branch arrested Jitendra, currently unemployed, from Gochhi village in Jhajjar in the case.

Sonia and Jitendra were earlier married; their spouses had passed away. The house at Jawahar Colony, where the couple lived, is a medium-sized two-storey structure with multiple flats. The couple rented the first floor.

According to Khatri, personnel from the Saran police station first arrived at the scene after the accused’s 78-year-old mother alerted them about the crime — her son admitted to ‘killing’ Sonia.

“He (Jitendra) had told her about the crime and then fled. She came to the police, who quickly went to the spot,” he said.

The officer said that Jitendra had hidden the body in a cavity inside the bed. After a few days, the “unbearable stench from the body” made it difficult for him to stay in the room. “He had covered the body with clothes,” said SI Khatri.

“It is not the kind of smell that could be masked with incense sticks, like he tried to do, two days after the murder,” Khatri added.

After he had killed her and put the body inside the bed, neighbours noticed the foul smell and complained to the landlord who lives around a kilometre away. Jitendra had told the landlord that this stench was caused by a dead rat in his room.

Given the clinching evidence, this case should see its trial start and complete very soon, Khatri said. “Now with the new (criminal) laws, after we file chargesheet within 90 days, the case can be completed quickly. This will ensure justice to the victim. I will be preparing the chargesheet soon,” he said.

“We will also add the charge of hiding the body. We are awaiting the post-mortem report.”

The accused’s police remand ended today.