Man who strangled wife over suspicion of infidelity also planned to kill her friend: Police

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A motorcycle taxi driver, who killed his wife over suspicion of infidelity and hid her body inside a bed box at his house in Delhi, had also planned to kill her friend who he believed she was in a relationship with, police said on Tuesday (January 7, 2025).

However, Dhanraj was arrested before he could execute the plan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said.

Police recovered a woman’s decomposed body from a house in the Janakpuri area on Friday last week. Her mouth was covered with white tape. The woman was identified as Deepa Chauhan, wife of Dhanraj, the DCP said.

Based on her father’s complaint, an FIR was registered against Dhanraj.

During the investigation, the police found that Dhanraj was an alcoholic. He was working as a motorcycle taxi driver. Police had earlier said that he was a cab driver. His wife was working in a private company and bearing the household expenses. She was friends with a male co-worker which Dhanraj objected to and suspected her of having an affair with him, DCP said.

Multiple teams were formed to trace Dhanraj. The police found that he had obtained a new SIM card and had gone to Amritsar. While returning to Delhi, he was arrested from Karnal bypass on Sunday, DCP said.

During the interrogation, Dhanraj confessed to killing his wife and revealed that on December 29, an argument broke out between them over his wife’s friendship with her co-worker and he strangled her to death, DCP said.

He stuffed her body inside the bed box and covered her mouth with the tape to delay decomposition. He also planned to chop the body into pieces and dispose them. Dhanraj watched several videos online to learn the procedure, DCP said.

He had also asked his friends to help him dispose of the body, but they refused.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, DCP added.