Delhi man held for killing woman over debt repayment

A 32-year-old businessman was arrested here for killing a woman who refused to repay money that she borrowed from him, the city police said on Monday.

Mohammad Sufiyan, a resident of Azad Market at Bahadurgarh Road in west Delhi, was arrested on Sunday night from his residence on a tip-off as he was trying to flee with his alleged girlfriend Naina.

Pooja Paswan was found murdered with deep cut wounds by her sister and brother-in-law on March 27 in her rented flat in Lajpat Nagar area.

"Sufiyan and his friend Samir were regular club-goers. They met Paswan and her friend Naina in a club at south Delhi's Vasant Vihar area last year. A relationship blossomed between Pooja Paswan and Samir. Naina and Sufiyan also came in a relationship later," Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Banniya said.

"The four -- Naina, Sufiyan, Paswan and Samir -- used to visit Paswan's flat to stay overnight. About six months ago, both Paswan and Naina had a heated altercation, after which Paswan refused to let Naina visit her flat," Banniya said.

Sufiyan, who was already in heavy debt, had to arrange other costly accommodations to spend time with Naina, the police said.

He later asked Paswan to return Rs 35,000 which she had borrowed from him. But she refused to pay back.

"An angry Sufiyan hatched a plan to eliminate Paswan and get cash and jewellery from her flat. Thus on March 24, he gained entry into her flat on the pretext of resolving old conflicts and later asked her to close eyes for a surprise gift. When she closed her eyes, he slit her throat from behind, smothered her and later slit her wrist," Banniya said.

He stole her jewellery and escaped from the spot, he added.

Sufiyan, who is fond of living luxurious life, was running an import-export business in Chinese toys. He is married and has a four-year-old son, the police said.

Paswan ran a cosmetics shop and was living alone in a rented flat. Her husband of two years, Sumit, was running a mobile phone business at his hometown, Patna in Bihar.

--IANS

sp/vgu/vt