Main accused of murders of two women in south Delhi held

The main accused in the cases of brutal murders of two women roommates in Munirka of south Delhi has been arrested and the missing head of one of the victims recovered, police said today.

Arjun Thapa, who was also the husband of one of the women, was arrested on December 18 from Agra, DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said.

One of the bodies, wrapped in a polythene sheet, was found outside a temple in Vasant Vihar on November 18 while a headless body was found in a sewer in Munirka village on November 25.

The headless body was identified as that of Sushma Rai, a resident of Assam, while the other victim was her roommate Nayesha, a native of Nepal. Both of the victims were freelance beauticians.
 

Arjun, who was in a live-in relationship with Mini Sangma, clandestinely married Rai at Kalkaji Mandir a day after Karwa Chauth.

He, along with his friends Jeevan and Govind, used to provide logistical and financial support to Sushma, Nayesha and many other similarly-placed people who came to Delhi for better economic prospects.

After Arjun married Sushma, a jealous Mini instigated the trio and also put a condition before Arjun asking him to choose between her and Rai.

A plan was hatched and Arjun murdered Rai on the intervening night of November 16 and 17, beheaded her and dumped the body in a sewer. After that the trio murdered Nayesha.

While Jeevan and Mini Sangma were arrested on December 9. Arjun and Govind were on run.

During interrogation, Jeevan and Mini revealed that Arjun had several bases in Delhi and other states where he had associates and facilitators, the officer said.

The mobile phone location of some of the numbers being used by Arjun were traced near an international border which gave the impression that he might have left the country.

However, Mini revealed that while leaving Delhi, Arjun had made plans to return soon and move to southern India from where he could carry on his spa-related facilitation services.

Police during ground-level verification of Arjun's contacts found that he was in touch with some people from Agra and nearby tourist areas.

A source informed police that Arjun was in Agra and acting on the information police traced him and arrested him from there, the officer said.

Arjun gave police the location of the missing head which was then recovered from a sewer manhole, he added.

He was yesterday produced before a court which remanded him into a two-day police custody.