A city court on Friday (June 19, 2026) remanded Dr. Manish Gupta, the dermatologist accused of murdering his domestic help, in police custody for two days. The doctor was arrested the previous day from his home in East of Kailash for the murder of Mina Halder, 58.
Arguing for his custody before Judicial Magistrate Anurag Chhabra, the police sought the accused’s custody, contending that they need to investigate whether other people are also involved in the murder and to unearth new facts in the case.
“We had asked for his custody to interrogate him and look into all the aspects of the crime, including whether it was planned or committed on the spur of the moment,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Hemant Tiwari.
Opposing the plea, the defence counsel argued, “Everything has been seized by the police. He has been in police custody for the last 24 hours. He is already suffering from depression, and is a well-reputed doctor.” Mr. Chhabra allowed the police’s plea.
“The accused has been on medication for various psychological disorders, including OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder] and depression, for the past 20 years,” said the DCP.
Weapons recovered
The doctor bludgeoned and stabbed Halder to death and was found sitting beside her body when a police team reached his house in Mount Kailash Apartments, the police said. The accused has confessed to attacking his domestic help of 16 years with a bat and later stabbing her with a knife, and the weapons used in the crime have been recovered, the police also said.
According to Halder’s medico-legal case (MLC) report, which was shared with her family on Friday, the victim received three stab wounds on her neck, each of which was 3 cm long and 1 cm wide, a laceration on her head, and abrasions on her right arm and left thigh.
Halder’s body was handed over to her family on Friday following an autopsy, the results of which are awaited. She was cremated shortly after.
The family alleged that, even as they were waiting for the deceased’s daughter and husband to arrive from Kolkata, the police forced them to perform the last rites promptly.
“The police told us to take the body straight to the cremation ground. We weren’t allowed to keep the body even for a minute at home,” Saptami Bishwas, a relative, told The Hindu.
When reached for comment, the police denied the allegation.
‘Showed me the body’
The police received a call about the incident at 11.36 a.m. on Thursday. One of Dr. Gupta’s neighbours saw the dermatologist attacking Halder on the terrace around 11.30 a.m. and alerted her friend Subhash (name changed on request), who lives next door to the accused. Mr. Subhash told The Hindu that the dermatologist himself answered the door, said, “Maine kar diya (I have done it),” and showed him the motionless, blood-spattered body, after which Mr. Subhash, who is the registered complainant in the case, called the police.
“At first, he seemed a bit disoriented and in some sort of delusion. He said, ‘I killed her on the roof’. We went to the roof and saw Mina’s body lying in a pool of blood. At that point, Gupta started mumbling something and appeared to be in a state of complete mental breakdown,” said Mr. Subhash.
He said that Dr. Gupta had lived at his Mount Kailash residence for the past 25 years. “There was never any evidence of any sort of illness with him. I have been his patient as well and, as a medical practitioner, he was very thorough with his patients,” said the complainant.
He described the dermatologist as a kind and generous man who often treated domestic workers for free.
Mina had also worked at Mr. Subhash’s house at times. “She worked for us whenever our house help was on leave. She was very diligent and just kept to herself,” he said.
In the two-and-a-half decades living next to the Guptas, Mr. Subhash said he had never seen the couple arguing over anything.
Published – June 20, 2026 01:41 am IST
