Woman strangled, body found in bag in Delhi’s Shahdara: Police arrest man she was to marry

Police said Sultan, a resident of the same area, had rented the premises to run his e-commerce packaging and delivery storage house. When police tried to look for him, they found both his mobile phones were switched off and he had left the city. A police team was formed and following technical surveillance, Sultan was arrested from Mumbai on Monday afternoon.

During questioning, he allegedly told police that he had known Shama for the last two-three years and they planned to get married in a few months. “On November 25, his family was to go to Shama’s house to fix the marriage. Before that, in the morning, Shama met Sultan at his office… he was suspicious she was talking to someone and objected to it. Soon the conversation turned heated and the accused strangled Shama with her dupatta… he held on for a minute to ensure she was dead,” said a police officer.

After hiding the body, Sultan locked the premises and boarded a train to Mumbai from New Delhi railway station. “We found him at a friend’s house in Mumbai… he was staying there on the pretext that he was looking for a job.”

“The murder is supposed to have taken place around 2 pm… he was seen leaving the premises around the same time, as per CCTV footage. Neighbours told us Sultan usually closed the storage house around 4.30 pm… this made us suspicious,” said another officer.

A senior police officer said the two families had been discussing the wedding. “Shama was in a relationship with someone else before but they split as the man wasn’t interested in marriage. Shama’s family eventually decided to get her married to Sultan, whom she had met through a common friend. It appears Shama remained in touch with the other man, which Sultan did not like; the two had frequent arguments over this and things took a violent turn on Saturday,” said the officer.

Sanjay, who runs a gym opposite the premises, told The Indian Express, “He (Sultan) started his business around two months ago… he mostly kept to himself. Three-four of his employees would arrive when he unlocked the premises at 10 in the morning and they would stay till 4.30 pm when he locked up. I did not notice anything amiss on Saturday afternoon.”

Police said Sultan, who hails from Bihar, has studied till Class X.

‘Didn’t think we’d lose our youngest… she was to be married next year: Family

For Shama’s family, their dreams of getting their youngest daughter married were shattered after she was found dead in the store of the man she was to wed, Sultan, on Sunday evening.

Shama worked from 12.30 pm to 4 pm at a beauty parlour 200 metres away from her home in Vishwas Nagar’s NSA Colony. She had studied till class VIII and had taken to working at the parlour since. On Saturday, she had left home to head to work — that was the last time her family saw her.

At the GTB Hospital mortuary, her brother Mohd. Karim (31), whom Shama was closest with, told The Indian Express, “Like every morning, Shama… left for the parlour… On Saturday evening, when we noticed she was not back yet, I left office and headed to the parlour to look for her. But the staff there said Shama had already asked for leave for the day. I quickly called Sultan to ask if he had heard from her… but he was being evasive and told us he had no idea where Shama was…”

Karim said his sister’s phone was ringing till 4.30 pm, after which it was switched off. “I kept calling Sultan… eventually switched off his phone at 8:30 pm… We lodged a missing person’s complaint at Farsh Bazar police station. The next day, Sultan’s mother came to our house claiming he was missing too… That evening, I got a call from police that my sister’s body had been found… he (Sultan) strangled and disposed of her body… I almost fainted seeing her,” he added.

Shama’s father Mohd. Nayim said the family was preparing for her wedding in February and had even bought jewellery. “We have five other daughters and four sons… she was the last daughter to get married. The first proposal had not worked out so we thought this one would… who knew we’d lose our youngest,” he said.