A 34-year-old cab driver was arrested for allegedly killing a woman for not agreeing to marry him, news agency ANI reported citing police on Saturday. The incident occurred in the east Delhi area of New Ashok Nagar.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Amrutha Guguloth said: "A taxi driver, Shiv Shankar Mukhiya, murdered a woman, Sunita aged 30, on Feb 26 under New Ashok Nagar PS by beating her after she denied leaving her husband & live with the accused. It appears the victim-lady was a sex worker".
"Victim lady has injuries on her head, mouth, and chest. The accused is married & has four children. The victim & accused knew each other for three years and the accused used to give her money for maintenance," she was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
The accused, Shiv Shankar Mukhiya, is a resident of Madhubani in Bihar and works as a cab driver.
Mukhiya is married with four children and currently resides in Chirag Delhi with his family, where his wife works as a maid, PTI reported a senior police official.
On February 26, police received information about the murder and arrived at the location where the body of a 30-year-old woman was discovered lying on the floor, according to a senior police officer.
According to the report, the autopsy report revealed that the victim had suffered head injuries as well as a few others in her inner mouth, indicating smothering.
During the investigation, a victim's friend told police that a taxi driver was forcing her to marry him. As per the report, the victim's friend had never met the person or seen his picture.
Police discovered a man acting suspiciously after reviewing CCTV footage from the surrounding area. He was seen entering the lane at 7.13 pm and exiting at 7.27 pm, the report said.
The victim's husband told police that he received a call about a month ago in which the caller threatened him to leave his wife and that the caller had also affixed some pamphlets with his and her wife's phone numbers and derogatory remarks on them.
Police discovered that a person used to arrive to meet the victim in a cab with a license plate starting with 4 and ending with 5. They also discovered that the accused's phone number ended in 11. According to the DCP, they apprehended Mukhiya after analysing the call details.
Mukhiya stated that he met the victim three years ago in Noida through a mutual friend. He wanted to marry her and thus tried to persuade her for some time, according to the police.
He went to her house in a rage and began beating her up. He killed her when she began to scream, the police said.