IN A chilling recall of the Shraddha Walkar murder case, a woman and her son allegedly killed her husband, chopped his body into 10 pieces, and kept them in a fridge before dumping them across east Delhi, police said on Monday. Anjan Das (45) was killed on May 30 by his wife Poonam (48) and stepson Deepak (25) who were arrested from east Delhi’s Pandav Nagar. Some of his body parts were found stuffed inside a bag at the Ramlila Ground in east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri on June 5, police said. Over the next few days, his legs, thighs, skull and a forearm were recovered following which a case was registered under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Pandav Nagar Police Station. The victim has a wife and eight sons in Bihar, but he hid this fact from Poonam, police said, adding that a team will be sent there to collect DNA samples of Das’ kin to match the body parts.

The mother-son duo had killed Das over suspicion that he was eyeing his stepdaughter and stepson’s wife. They had disposed of the body parts at different places in east Delhi over a period of three to four days and buried the skull, they said. The accused told police that they mixed sleeping pills in Das’ drink and after he fell unconscious, used a knife and a dagger to kill him. They then slit his throat and waited for the blood to drain out completely before chopping it into pieces.

Following the recovery of body parts in June, police analysed CCTV footage of the area and conducted door-to-door verification. The body was later identified as that of Das which led police to Poonam and Deepak.

Police became suspicious of the two after realising that they had not lodged a missing persons complaint for Das and when questioned, there were discrepancies in their statements.