New Delhi: A 36-year-old man was given sleeping pills and then electrocuted to death by his wife and cousin in Delhi’s Dwaraka, an official said on Saturday, July 19.
The incident came to light on July 13, when a call was made to the PCR from the Mata Rooprani Maggo Hospital in Uttam Nagar, reporting the death of Karan Dev. The call was made by his wife, Sushmita.
Sushmita claimed that her husband accidentally suffered an electric shock. A case was registered as death by natural causes.
But police insisted on an autopsy, citing the victim’s age and the circumstances of the death. This was opposed by Karan’s father and his cousin, Rahul Dev, the other accused in the case.
Instagram chat between wife, cousin
The case took a different turn when the Delhi Police received an Instagram chat between Sushmita and Rahul, purportedly discussing the murder plan. The evidence was provided by Karan’s younger brother, Kunal Dev, who suspected an illicit affair between Rahul and Sushmita.
Karan had also slapped Sushmita on the festival of Karwachauth, which added to her emotional distress, police sources stated.
According to a preliminary investigation, Sushmita first allegedly drugged Karan by giving him 15 sleeping pills. Seeing him awake, she panicked and messaged Rahul on the social media platform.
The chat that led to solve the murder
She wrote to Rahul: “Check once how long it does it takes to die after taking the medicine. It’s been three hours since he ate food. No vomiting, no potty, nothing. And no death yet either. Then what should we do, suggest something.”
Rahul replied: “If you can’t figure anything out, give him a shock.”
The conversation continued, with Sushmita asking: “How to tie him up for the shock?”
Rahul: “With tape.”
Sushmita: “He’s breathing very slowly.”
Rahul: “Give him all the medicine you have.”
Sushmita: “I can’t get his mouth open. I can pour water in, but I can’t give the medicine. You come here, maybe together we can manage to feed it to him.”
Wife reports death to police
Sushmita rushed to her in-laws’ house nearby, telling them that Karan had collapsed, which prompted them to take him to the hospital. He was brought to the hospital in an unresponsive state and declared dead with the medico-legal case (MLC) citing electrocution as the cause of death, sources said.
“Initially, the deceased’s family did not raise any allegations and even wished to waive the post-mortem examination. However, considering Karan’s relatively young age and to rule out any foul play, the post-mortem was conducted at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said.
Sushmita and Rahul have been booked under Sections 103 (punishment for murder) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered, and an investigation is underway.
Karan and Sushmita have a six-year-old son.
(With PTI inputs)
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