New Delhi : While leaving town on Saturday with a childhood friend, 28-year-old Sandeep Singh, a teacher at a government school, told his wife Sandhya, 27, that their printer needed fixing.
He said he would arrange for some “tech support guys” to come home and pick it up.
As neighbours began to gather after hearing the gunshots and her screams, the assailants fled. Sandhya, however, survived. “They pretended to work on the printer. Investigators found that one of the assailants had travelled from Nand Nagri. “We had asked her to leave him but she was not ready. He would hit her and torture her.
One of the two men, after pretending to work on the printer for around 45 minutes, suddenly took out a gun and started shooting Sandhya. After waiting for 45 minutes, and ensuring the coast was clear, one of them opened fire at Sandhya,” said a senior police officer aware of the case details. CCTV mapping helped police identify and arrest Aakash, 26, and Deepak, 26.
Police said she was shot several times. Police said Sandeep intentionally travelled to Gujarat with a friend to create an alibi, while allegedly asking a friend to arrange his wife’s murder. Sandhya was alone at home when the two alleged shooters arrived to “collect and fix the printer”, according to police. “Her neighbours rushed to her house hearing the noise but the accused had managed to escape,” a senior police officer said. He had also demanded dowry earlier,” a family member said.
Sandhya’s family alleged that she had faced domestic abuse and had previously approached the Delhi Police Crime Against Women Cell with a complaint. On Wednesday, police announced the arrest of Sandeep and two other men for allegedly plotting and executing the attack. Police said Sandhya’s statement was recorded late on Sunday.
A case under sections 109(1) (abetment of an offence) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, was registered at Ranhola police station. She was rushed to Venkateshwar Hospital in Dwarka, where she is undergoing treatment and is stated to be stable. She suffered bullet injuries to her chest and abdomen.
