Delhi: Suspecting husband's affair with sister-in-law, woman kills niece

New Delhi: A 22-year-old woman smothered her 2-year-old niece to death and hid her body in the bed box, after she suspected that her husband was having an affair with her sister-in-law in Delhi.

The victim, named Asina, had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon. Her body was discovered on Wednesday night while the family was being questioned by investigators. Police said that the strong stench from the bed box was what led them to the body.

The girl’s father, Firoz Alam, works at his own stall at the local flea market. Alam, his wife and their two children lived with her brother Aftab’s family.

However, Firoz’s wife Firdos and Aftab’s wife Roshan did not share cordial relations and it wasn't uncommon for them to have frequent fights.

“Roshan suspected her husband of being in an illicit relation with Firdos,” said A.K. Singla, DCP. Firdos claimed that Roshan had tried to kill her daughter in the past as well. “She had once fed her several sleeping pills. On another occasion, Roshan had spilled boiling oil on my daughter’s hands,” alleged Firdos. The police are yet to probe these allegations.

Things had apparently escalated during one particular fight, which left Roshan jealous and vengeful. She lured Asina into her room by offering her some money at around 1:45 pm.

Roshan waited for her to dose off, and then strangled her. “Roshan used her hands to smother the child to death. She then hurriedly stuffed the body in her bed box and covered it with clothes,” said Singla.

Her family, on realising that Asina was missing, launched a search for her. On being unable to locate her, they informed the police.

The police set out twenty teams to track the girl, with two teams being deployed near her house. As they were searching Roshan's room on Wednesday night, they sensed a strong smell coming from her room. She tried to prevent them from looking further by insisting that the smell was from the cooler, but they persisted.

“The smell led the police to the bed box, opening which they found a pile of clothes from which the child’s feet were popping out. The clothes were removed to recover Asina’s body,” said Asina’s cousin Mohammad Salman who was present at the spot.

The woman confessed to the crime after being subjected to an intense grilling session. She has been booked for murder, while the police are still investigating whether more people were involved in the act.