I wish I paid heed to what my mother said about uncle. He used to often threaten her, “If you did not quit working, I will cut you into pieces”. He came to our home armed with a knife and tried to attack her during Holi celebrations but didn’t succeed. On several occasions, he reprimanded her for working and coming home late,” said Sanjana, 17-year-old daughter of 31-year-old woman, a day after body of her mother was found with head and hands chopped off by her brother-in-law over suspicions of having illicit relations.
Kalawati, the victim was found with her head and hands chopped off and dumped among wild bushes in an empty plot in Rohini Sector-24 area.
"If I could, I would shoot my uncle dead. My fault was that my mother got death threats from uncle but she confided in me. Had I been brave and told father about this, father would have ended all ties with uncle", said an inconsolable Sanjana.
Narrating how she identified her mother from her dismembered body parts, Sanjana said, "I left the place horrified. I mustered up courage to look at the body and finally found the flower tattoo on mother's right wrist. Her clothes and tiffin were lying beside the body."
Sitting outside her rented accommodation in the Gali no 2 of the Budh Vihar 2 area, in between intermittent sobs, Sanjana said, "Because of uncle's regressive attitude, he was asked to leave the family village in Chitrakoot 20 years back. Following which he came to Delhi. Uncle was jealous of mother's earnings. We on the other hand, shifted to Delhi two years back in pursuit of a better future. Back in the village, my mother ran a cosmetics shop and in Delhi, she used to work at a godown near our house. To assist, I also worked in a nearby factory. However, my uncle never liked it. He used to yell at mother if she returned home even 15 minutes late."
Denying that her mother had any illicit relations, Sanjana said, "My mother and father had a love marriage. They were happy together. Just because my mother was working among male labourers does not mean she is of promiscuous character. Moreover, these are just baseless allegations. Recently, uncle had asked mother to give her Rs 1 lakh. It was due to these issues that he hacked my mother to death.
The accused, Rama Shankar (35), used to work as a scrap dealer and live with his family in Begumpur area.
Meanwhile, Kalawati's family comprised of her husband Fugi lal (33), daughters Sanjana (17), Mannu (15), Sarita (12) and son Armaan (10).
Recalling what transpired on Friday, the day Sanjana's mother, Kalawati went missing, Sanjana told The Pioneer, "My mother used to work in a rajma godown near our house in Budh Vihar Phase 2. like always, she fed us breakfast and left for work at around 10 am.
later in the evening, my mother got off from work by 8.30 pm. I went to check the godown but found it to be locked. I made more than a 100 calls on her cell phone but it was switched off.
On Saturday morning, me and my father, Fugi lal, approached the local police and filed a missing complaint. In the afternoon, police informed us that they have found my mother's decapitated body at an isolated spot."
DCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal, said, "The accused, Rama Shankar, had made a call to police asking to surrender. He confessed that he killed his sister-in-law. Case has been registered at the Vijay Vihar police station."
Police said that they are yet to find the severed head of the woman. In the investigation, we found no criminal involvement of the accused." The post mortem is likely to take place on Monday at the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital.