NEW DELHI, July 19 — A man’s suspicious death in West Delhi’s Uttam Nagar has turned into a chilling murder case after police uncovered a WhatsApp conversation between the victim’s wife and his cousin, revealing a plot involving sleeping pills and electric shocks.
Police arrested the wife, Sushmita, and the victim’s cousin, Rahul, after the chat messages indicated that they had conspired to kill 32-year-old Karan Dev, whose death was initially presented as an accident.
“On July 13, we received information from a local hospital that a man named Karan had died an unnatural death,” said Dwarka Deputy Commissioner of Police Ankit Singh. “Though the family declined a post-mortem, we proceeded with it due to the suspicious circumstances.”
Karan’s body was shifted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital. At first, even his family believed he had died by accidental electrocution. But two days after his cremation, his younger brother, Kunal, discovered incriminating WhatsApp chats on Rahul’s phone that led to a murder probe.
“The messages showed Sushmita had drugged Karan and kept updating Rahul that he wasn’t dying, so she resorted to electric shocks,” said Karan’s mother, Neeru.
According to Neeru, Sushmita arrived at the family’s home around 9 a.m. on Sunday claiming that Karan had been electrocuted. The family rushed to the flat and took him to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
It wasn’t until after the cremation that the story began to unravel. Gaurav, a friend of the deceased, said the family confronted Sushmita, who broke down and confessed to the murder. She claimed Rahul had been blackmailing her.
Rahul was also questioned separately and admitted to his role in the crime, police said. Investigators found that Rahul had been near the couple’s residence the morning of the killing.
“The chats recovered from Rahul’s phone clearly indicate that Sushmita was in constant communication with him through the night,” Gaurav added.
Police have now registered a murder case and both accused are in custody as further investigation continues.
