NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old was arrested for allegedly murdering a 55-year-old man with a chopper in southwest Delhi’s Palam area. The accused, identified as Uchit Rawat alias Kartik, was arrested from UP’s Etah.
A senior police officer reported that the murder came to light on Oct 30 when police received a PCR call about a foul smell emanating from a locked flat in Raj Nagar-2, Palam Colony. Upon breaking into the flat, police found the highly decomposed body of flat owner Devdas wrapped in clothes inside a locked room. “The victim was in a live-in relationship with a woman who went to Andhra three weeks earlier,” said DCP (South West) Surendra Choudhary.
Accused says he was angry over ‘abuse’During the probe, police learned about a regular visitor known as “Pandit ji” who looked after Devdas. Technical surveillance and local enquiries identified him as Uchit Rawat, who mysteriously disappeared days before the body's discovery.
A special team led by inspector Sudhir Kumar Gulia tracked down Rawat to his village in Etah. During interrogation, he confessed to killing Devdas on Oct 21. “The accused revealed that he visited Devdas around 8 pm that day. They were drinking together when Devdas started abusing him. In a fit of rage, Rawat attacked him with a chopper that Devdas kept under his pillow,” DCP Choudhary explained.
After the murder, Rawat locked the room from outside and continued visiting the flat to operate the water motor, maintaining an appearance of normalcy before fleeing to his village on Oct 27.
A senior officer revealed that Devdas lived on the ground floor of the building and also owned an apartment on the fourth floor that he rented out to a family. He kept visiting the house until Oct 26 so that he could turn on the motor for water supply, ensuring the tenants didn’t get suspicious, the officer added. Police have recovered evidence, including blood-stained clothes, two lock keys and the murder weapon. Rawat, who worked at a local temple for three years, told police that Devdas previously slapped him multiple times without reason, which also enraged him.
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