When poison didn’t work, maid suffocated SC advocate to death, stole valuables

Mangalore Today News Network

Noida, Aug 02, 2019 : Noida police on Thursday arrested a domestic help and four others from Delhi for allegedly murdering 60-year-old Supreme Court lawyer Kuljeet Kaur at her Sector 31 bungalow on July 1, Hindustan Times reported.

 

Police said the suspects first poisoned Kaur’s tea and when that did not work, they suffocated her to death. They fled with Kaur’s 2006 model Hyundai Accent car, jewellery, valuables and also damaged CCTV cameras at the premises.

The domestic help has been identified as Manisha. The accomplices were her live-in partner Dhan Bahadur, Kapil, Rita, Chandra Prasad and a minor girl.

Vaibhav Krishna, SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar, said Kaur lived alone in her house. Her husband Captain Navjot Singh had died in December 2018.

Explaining how police cracked the case, Krishna said initial investigation revealed Kaur’s domestic help Manisha and her live-in partner Bahadur had been missing since the incident.

“Kaur had hired Manisha for Rs 2,000 per month, with lodging and food facilities, two weeks before the incident. Pretending to be Manisha’s husband, Bahadur used to frequently visit Kaur’s house,” police said.

“Natives of Nepal, they lived in a rented accommodation in Sector 45 in Gurugram, before moving to Kaur’s place,” Krishna said.

After Kaur was found dead, police had no details about the domestic helps since they had fled. However, when police launched a search, they found that Rita and her husband Chandra Prasad used to previously work there as domestic helps. Rita was picked up for interrogation. During questioning, she revealed that Bahadur and Manisha worked at Kaur’s place.

Police launched electronic and manual surveillance and detected Bahadur and Manisha’s movement at the India-Nepal border for several days. A team also visited there but could not find them. Bahadur and Manisha, the minor, and one of the other accused, Kapil, were finally arrested from Chilla flyover in Delhi bordering Noida on Thursday. They revealed involvement of Rita and Chandra Prasad in the case too.

Bahadur said his friend Chandra Prasad and his wife Rita had worked at Kaur’s place as domestic helps for about two years.

“Two months ago, the couple quit the job. But they informed Dhan Bahadur that Kaur possessed huge wealth and had no heir. They said Kaur may have gold jewellery worth Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore,” Krishna said.

Bahadur hatched a plot other accused to place Manisha as a domestic help at Kaur’s place. Kaur did not hire Bahadur, but he frequently visited the house on pretext of helping in household chores.

They conducted a recee for a week and poisoned Kaur’s tea on July 1 night. “But it did not make Kaur unconscious. The duo then called in Rita, Chandra Prasad, Kapil, and a minor girl, who were waiting outside in a car. They tied Kaur’s legs and hands, sealed her mouth with a tape and suffocated her to death,” Krishna said.

The accused ransacked the house and fled with jewellery and some valuables. They stole Kaur’s Hyundai Accent but later abandoned it in Ecotech I area. “They had fled with artificial jewellery,”

Bahadur, Manisha, Rita, Chandra Prasad are from Nepal while Kapil is from Nagaur in Rajasthan. “We have recovered Kaur’s Hyundai Accent, two mobile phones, three cheque books, one debit card, laptop, a dongle, jewellery, goggles, etc., from their possession. While Manisha is absconding, the other accused were produced in court and sent to judicial custody,” Krishna said.

The SSP said the gang was also involved in a prostitution racket in NCR. Police had earlier investigated a property dispute angle but could not find any link to the murder.

The victim’s sister Divya Bajaj had filed a complaint against unknown persons at the Sector 20 police station following the murder.