On trail of PO, police uncover murder mystery, nab accused

A routine exercise to find the whereabouts of a proclaimed offender (PO) in the national capital led the police to ultimately find and solve a brutal murder mystery where a woman, with the help of her lover, eliminated her husband, Pritam Prakash (42), and dumped his body in a drain.

The police arrested the woman identified as Soniya (34), a resident of Alipur, Delhi, and her boyfriend Rohit (28), a resident of Sonepat. Another accused, Vijay, brother-in-law of Soniya’s sister, remains at large.

The rented house in Alipur where both husband and wife lived remains deserted after the arrest of Soniya.

Akshay, one of their neighbours, revealed that they thought Pritam, who was declared a PO, must be missing or may be hiding from the police and his wife, Soniya, might be making up stories to evade his arrest.

It came as a shock to them that she was co-conspirer in her husband’s death, he added. Since both Pritam and Soniya married against the will of their family members, the neighbours never saw the parents or any relative visiting them.

Pritam was a known history-sheeter in Alipur and had more than 10 cases registered against him, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harsh Indora.

Cases under the Arms Act, NDPS Act and various sections of the IPC were registered against him. “He was also declared a proclaimed offender by the court,” Indora added.

The police were investigating the whereabouts of Pritam. His mobile phone signal was traced to a village in Sonepat, Haryana.

During the raid, the police detained a man named Rohit, who initially misled them but later confessed to having an illicit relationship with Pritam’s wife. He admitted that she had given him Pritam’s mobile phone, the police said.

The police also nabbed Soniya, who disclosed that in July 2024, she had given a contract for the killing of her husband to her relative Vijay, who killed him.

Soniya said Pritam was a drug addict and often used to beat her up. After their marriage, she often used to fight with Pritam about his addiction. Pritam had been to jail several times for illegal possession of weapons, robbery, theft, kidnapping and other cases.

In 2023, she came in contact with Rohit, a taxi driver in Delhi, and they became friends. Rohit has also been to jail several times. They wanted to marry, but her husband was an obstacle. On July 2 last year, she had a fight with Pritam and went to her sister’s house in Gannaur, Sonepat. She asked Rohit to kill her husband, but he demanded Rs 6 lakh, saying that he needs to hire other men, the DCP said.

Later, she asked her sister’s brother-in-law Vijay to kill Pritam. He demanded Rs 1 lakh, and the deal was finalised for Rs 50,000.

Chilling murder cases

Meerut murder case: Muskan Rastogi, along with her lover Sahil Shukla, stabbed her husband Saurabh Rajput to death, chopped his body into pieces and hid it in a cement-filled drum in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

Meghalaya honeymoon murder: Sonam Raghuvanshi and her boyfriend Raj Kushwaha plotted and killed her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya. Sonam allegedly lured Raja to a remote area where hired killers attacked him.

Begusarai murder: Rani, with the help of her lover, strangled her husband Maheshwar Rai to death in Begusarai, Bihar, due to arguments over her social media activity.

Bhiwani murder: Ravina, a YouTuber, and her lover Suresh killed her husband Praveen and dumped his body in a drain in Bhiwani, Haryana.

Neeraj Grover murder: Maria Susairaj’s boyfriend killed Neeraj Grover, and Maria was also involved in the crime, which included chopping his body into pieces.

Delhi