A landlady's request for rent from her tenants ended in her losing her life in Ghaziabad after the tenants murdered her.
The body of 48-year-old landlady, Deepshikha Sharma, was found inside a suitcase in the rented flat, following which, police arrested the tenant couple - Ajay and Akriti Gupta. They have been taken into custody, reports said.
The incident happened at the Aura Chimera residential complex in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar Extension. Police have said that Deepshikha and Umesh Sharma owned two flats in the society. They lived in one of them and the other had been rented out to the Guptas.
Reportedly, the Guptas had not paid rent for four months and Deepshikha had decided to confront them about it. She visited their rented flat on Wednesday when her husband was not at home.
However, she did not return home for several hours, following which, her maid, Meena, started searching for her and went to the Guptas' home. Meena also checked the CCTV footage of the building and found that Deepshikha had entered the flat where the Guptas lived but never exited the flat. Then the police were called.
The Guptas were also seen leaving the building with a large suitcase and had also called an auto-rickshaw. However, before they could leave, Meena stopped them and they were forced to return to their rented flat. As per NDTV, Meena said, "I told them that they cannot go anywhere till Didi is found."
The police arrived in some time and conducted searches at the Guptas' house, following which, Deepshikha's body was recovered from inside a suitcase.
Police suspect that when Deepshikha came to confront them, there was an altercation and the Guptas ended up killing her and stuffed her body into a suitcase.
"I told her (Deepshikha) not to go to their home alone. I told her I would come with her. But she still went alone," Meena said, according to the NDTV report.
Police say that Deepshikha was first hit on the head with a pressure cooker and then was probably strangled with a dupatta. Senior police officer Upasana Pandey said that the police are in the process of registering a case under relevant sections after receiving a complaint from Deepshikha's family.
NDTV further reported that the Guptas have confessed the murder and the wife said that the couple "did it together". The husband, meanwhile, has said that the landlady harassed them.
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