A couple from Kolkata in West Bengal was arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of a 45-year-old assistant professor of a Delhi University college, whose body was found at a high-rise society in east Delhi’s Vasundhara Enclave on Thursday.
Joint commissioner of police (eastern range) Ajit Kumar Singla said that the motive behind the murder was a property dispute and that the couple, who travelled to Delhi, murdered the professor and returned to Kolkata, are distant relatives of the deceased.
The woman, who was appointed a permanent assistant professor at her current college in Raja Garden in 2023, was found with severe head injury, both her wrists slit and she had bruises on her face and body, suggesting that a scuffle had taken place, according to investigators familiar with the probe details.
A senior police officer said the elder sister lives with her family in Mayur Vihar and was the first to reach the scene. When she found the door locked, she informed the locals, who then alerted the society’s residents welfare association (RWA), the officer added. The lock was broken in the presence of RWA members.
The arrested couple were living as tenants in one of her ancestral properties in Kolkata, deputy commissioner of police (east) Rajiv Kumar said.
“The couple wanted to buy the house they had been living in for many years. The professor’s parents and two siblings were reportedly ready to sell it, as all the family members were settled in Delhi and had no plans of going back to Kolkata. However, the professor was against the family’s decision to sell the ancestral property,” Kumar said.
“The couple saw her as the main hurdle. Enraged because the professor was not giving her consent despite their repeated requests, they travelled to Delhi, killed her on Wednesday, and returned to Kolkata,” Kumar added.
Police said that the couple was arrested in Kolkata and is being brought to Delhi for further interrogation and investigation.
