Woman's Revenge, Ex's Support, And Some Ghee: Story Behind A Charred Body

Three weeks after a 32-year-old civil services aspirant's charred body was recovered after a fire in north Delhi's Timarpur, cops have uncovered a chilling murder conspiracy executed with precision.

The investigation has revealed that the victim's 21-year-old live-in partner hatched a murder plot with her ex-boyfriend after the victim refused to delete her private videos he had stored on a hard disk. The third person in the conspiracy was a common friend. All three have now been arrested, and their questioning has uncovered the grisly murder.

A Fire, A Body And Many Questions

On October 6, local police rushed to Timarpur's Gandhi Vihar after receiving a fire alert. The flames were put out, and a charred body was recovered from a fourth-floor flat. The dead was identified as Ram Kesh Meena, a 32-year-old who had been preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) entrance exam.

Ram Kesh's family raised questions. A case was registered, and the police started an investigation. While scanning CCTV footage from the building, cops noticed something shocking. Two persons, their faces covered, entered the building the night before the fire. Some time later, one of them exits the building. And then, a man and a woman exit the building. This woman was identified as Amrita Chauhan, Ram Kesh's live-in partner. The fire broke out soon after they left the building, the CCTV footage showed. Amrita's phone confirmed that she was near Ram Kesh's flat at the time of the incident. Police added the murder charge and started an in-depth probe into the conspiracy.

Arrest And Interrogation

Amrita's phone had been switched off after the incident. Following several raids, police managed to catch her on October 18. During interrogation, she identified the co-accused -- her ex-boyfriend Sumit Kashyap and Sandeep Kumar. Sumit was arrested on October 21 and Sandeep on October 23.

Amrita told police that she met Ram Kesh in May this year and they started a relationship soon after. They lived together at the Gandhi Vihar flat. During this time, Ram Kesh allegedly recorded private videos of Amrita and stored them on a hard disk. When she knew of this, she asked him to delete the recordings. But he avoided the subject and did not delete the videos. Amrita confided in her ex-boyfriend Sumit, who was enraged. The two then plotted Meena's murder in a manner that looks like a fire accident, police have said.

Sumit worked in cooking gas cylinder distribution and knew how long an LPG cylinder may take to explode. And Amrita is a student of forensic sciences with a keen interest in crime web series that she used to plot her live-in partner's chilling murder. They also roped in a third conspirator: their common friend, 29-year-old Sandeep Kumar.

The Execution, And The Big Miss

Late on October 5, Sumit and Sandeep thrashed Ram Kesh and choked him to death. They then poured oil, ghee and wine on the body to fuel the fire. Sumit, police said, pulled out the gas cylinder from the kitchen and placed it near Ram Kesh's head. The knob was turned, and gas started filling the room. The accused had already taken Ram Kesh's two laptops, the hard disk, and other belongings. All checks done, Sumit ignited the fire using a lighter and locked the main door. About an hour later, after they had left the building, the cylinder exploded. What was left behind was Ram Kesh's charred body. Flames consumed most clues, but for all their meticulous planning, the killers did not factor in the CCTV. Police have recovered the hard disk that led to the murder, and other belongings of Ram Kesh. Two mobile phones of the accused have also been seized.