A 36-year-old Indian allegedly tried to fake his death by murdering a man of his similar build and passing the body off as his own with the aid of his wife, in an attempt to avoid being tried for the alleged 2018 honor killing of his 13-year-old daughter.
The suspect, Sudesh Kumar, a Delhi resident, and his wife, Anupama have been arrested and charged with the murder of Domen Ravidas, a mason whom they had invited to their home on Nov. 19, under the pretext of doing some repairs, according to police.
The next day, police were alerted about a burned body in a vacant plot in the Loni area. The face was burned beyond recognition, however, investigators recovered an ID card from the deceased man’s pocket, which reportedly belonged to Kumar.
Anupama was called in and she identified the body as her husband's, police said.
“We traced it back to [Kumar’s] home and got his wife to identify the body. She promptly identified it as [her] husband’s body. However, we were not convinced,” Police chief Iraj Raja told AFP.
Suspecting foul play, the police began an investigation and learned that Kumar was previously jailed for the murder of his teen daughter, who had eloped.
Kumar was among those detainees who were released on parole during the coronavirus outbreaks as authorities tried to reduce the number of inmates in overcrowded prisons.
As he realized that the authorities intended to end his period of parole he hatched a plan with his wife to avoid going back to jail.
The investigators eventually learned that Kumar was alive when they stumbled upon CCTV footage in which he was seen carrying a dead body on his bike to the location where the body was later found.
Later the police received a tip-off that he was visiting his wife at their home. The investigators raided the residence and apprehended Kumar, who reportedly confessed to the crime.
“Upon being interrogated, he spilled the beans,” Raja said.
Kumar told the police, that he had called Ravidas, who is of his height and weight, to his home under the false pretense of doing repair work. He then gave the victim a set of clothes to wear and plied him with alcohol before beating him to death, it is claimed.
He then crushed his head and burned his body so that it could not be identified, police said.
“The couple hatched an elaborate plot, but police managed to crack this blind murder case,” Raja told the BBC. “This team will be awarded for its work.”
The suspects are now being held at a jail in the capital city, the police said.
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