Romesh Sharma’s girlfriend killed

The police say they have most of the basic facts in this case. “Victim: identified; motive: property dispute and jealousy, though the killers took away Kunjom’s cellphone, diamond ring and money; assailants: identified. We just have to find them,” says anofficial.

Says eyewitness and caretaker in Sharma’s Jai Mata Di farmhouse, Ram Achal Tewari: “I know all of them, they were living in the outhouse. I was there when they attacked her with knives. When I attempted to raise an alarm, they held a gun to my head.”

Tewari says four men — Nani, Rajesh, Rakesh and Pramod — stabbed Kunjom. Sharma’s nehpew lives in his Mayfair Garden residence. But today he was accompanying the four men when they attacked Kunjom inside the farmhouse. Kunjom had finished her puja and was to return home. Two women, Dolly Virdi and Sonu Virdi, both Sharma’s ex-employees, were waiting outside the main gate. They reportedly helped the assailants escape.

The farmhouse, which Sharma is believed to have forcibly taken possession from a Congress MP, was unsealed by the police only last week. Sharma –currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with 16 criminal cases — then sent a message to his nephew to post some security guards there.

Surinder obliged but also asked someof his own men to occupy the outhouse. Kunjom’s parents say their daughter was a victim of Sharma’s “greedy nephew’s ambitions” to inherit his property. “And Sharma’s ex-girlfriends (Dolly & Sonu) also joined the plot to kill Kunjom because they weren’t happy about her association with Sharma,” says Kunjom’s father, Amritlal Budhiraj. A senior police official, however, points out that the Budhirajs had also been eyeing Sharma’s property. Kunjom’s family, meanwhile, insists that Sharma isn’t involved in the murder. Adds Kunjom’s mother Rani Budhiraj: “Romesh and Kumjom were in love. In fact, Romesh had recently told her that he would marry her as soon as he was released. Though in jail, he had been writing to her everyday.”

Kunjom’s younger brother Pawan claims the murder was pre-planned. He says he visits Sharma regularly in jail and was privy to a plot hatched by Surinder to kill Sharma. “Surinder wanted the property. When he came to know that I was aware of his plans, he tried to intimidate me.My sister is an unfortunate victim,” he said. Pawan says Surinder met Kunjom, at the Budhirajs’ residence in C-31 Hauz Khas, around 8 am today. He handed over a set of keys to the farmhouse to her.

“Surinder was aware that Sharma had asked her to perform a puja at the farmhouse. Around 12.30 pm Kunjom called me on the cellphone from the farmhouse. She said someone had deflated the tyres of her car and she was in no position to return home, though her puja was over. I told her that I would pick her up as soon as I could,” says Pawan. About two hours later, however, Kunjom called her mother. “She could barely speak. She said Ma…Ma.. and the line disconnected,” says Rani Budhraj.

Caretaker Tewari called up the police around 3 pm and reported the murder. “They fled immediately after the killing. I am not the only one who saw them, the walked past the security guards too. But I am the only one who saw them kill her,” says Tewari.