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Man, school-time female friend held for killing his wife

New Delhi | By
May 04, 2019 05:10 AM IST

Police said on March 16, when Mishra had left for office and Rai was at home, Tiwari visited her on the pretext of seeking her help with a job offer.

The police on Thursday arrested a man and his female friend for allegedly murdering his 26-year-old wife at her Kishangarh house in March and writing a fake note to make it look like a suicide.

The police said the man, a mechanical engineer, and his female friend were schoolmates. According to the police, they lost touch with each other and reconnected through their school WhatsApp group after more than a decade. They allegedly rekindled their relationship, but their families disapproved. The man’s family allegedly forced him to marry another woman, after which he and his girlfriend allegedly decided to kill his wife.

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Police said Rahul Kumar Mishra (32) lived with his wife Pooja Rai, an MBA graduate, in Kishangarh. On March 16, the Kishangarh police station was informed by Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, that a woman (Rai) was brought dead. “Rai was brought in by her husband. On April 27, her autopsy report revealed that she was murdered. Questioning of Rai’s family and neighbours revealed that one of her husband’s friends, Padma Tiwari (33), a resident of Mayur Vihar, had visited Rai at her house a day before her death,” deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Devender Arya, said.

Technical surveillance revealed Tiwari was in touch with Mishra, Arya said. Tiwari was interrogated. “Her statement was compared with Mishra’s and discrepancies were noticed. They were confronted and with calls and surveillance data after which they confessed,” the officer said.

Tiwari and Mishra allegedly disclosed they studied together in Sindri, Jharkhand, from kindergarten to class 12 and were close. “After school, they could not keep in touch. In April 2015, Tiwari was added to their school’s WhatsApp group where she found Mishra’s contact number and they got in touch,” the DCP said.

Arya said that over the next few years, the two rekindled their relationship. “In January 2017, Mishra was forced by family to marry Rai. Mishra even told Rai about his relationship with Tiwari, but Rai did not object and they got married,” he said.

In October 2018, on Mishra’s request, Rai, who was working with a Gurugram firm, contacted Tiwari to help her get a job. “Tiwari said Rai would often taunt her over her past relationship with her husband. The bitterness grew so much that Tiwari and Mishra decided to get rid of Rai,” Arya said.

Police said on March 16, when Mishra had left for office and Rai was at home, Tiwari visited her on the pretext of seeking her help with a job offer. “Tiwari laced Rai’s drink. As Rai started feeling unwell, Tiwari overpowered her and hit her head against the ground repeatedly until she died. Tiwari then wrote a fake suicide note and put it close to Rai’s body and took the juice glasses with her so that the police could not find her fingerprints,” Arya said.

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