Man strangled, wife arrested for murder linked to Govt job claim

By Sagaya Fernando | April 09, 2025  

 

Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India: A 29-year-old railway technician, identified as Deepak Kumar, was allegedly strangled to death by his wife during a religious ceremony at their residence in Najibabad, Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh, on the evening of April 4, 2025. Initially believed to be a natural death due to a heart attack, the case took a grim turn after an autopsy confirmed that he had been murdered.

The incident occurred around 7:00 PM at the couple’s rented home in Adarsh Nagar colony. Deepak’s wife, Shivani, 27, informed his family that he had collapsed while performing puja. However, the family, citing Deepak’s government employment with Indian Railways, requested a post-mortem before proceeding with final rites. The autopsy, conducted on April 6, revealed that Deepak had been strangled.

Police arrested Shivani on Sunday, April 6, based on forensic evidence and her subsequent confession. According to Bijnor Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Sanjeev Vajpayee, Shivani confessed that she mixed four sedative tablets into Deepak’s food before the puja. Once he lost consciousness, she allegedly used her left hand to strangle him. Investigators noted that Shivani’s right hand had a fracture, which may have forced her to use her non-dominant hand during the act.

The motive, as per Deepak’s family, was to claim his government railway job. The victim's mother, Pushpa Devi, and brother, Piyush Kumar, accused Shivani of long-standing hostility toward the family and alleged that she could not have committed the murder alone. They have petitioned the Bijnor Superintendent of Police to investigate further and arrest any additional accomplices involved in the conspiracy.

The couple had a love marriage on June 17, 2023, and were raising their six-month-old son together. Deepak, originally from Mukrandpur village in Bijnor, had previously served in the CRPF in Manipur before joining the Railways in March 2023 to pursue a stable family life.

Police maintain that Shivani acted alone. She has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and was remanded to judicial custody on April 7.

Authorities continue to probe the case for potential co-conspirators, based on the family's claims and forensic leads.