Woman allegedly killed by tenants for demanding rent

A 33-year-old woman was allegedly murdered by her tenants on Wednesday night after she went to collect pending rent at a housing society in Ghaziabad.

According to police, the victim, identified as Deepashikha Sharma, lived with her husband, Umesh Sharma, in Aura Chimera Society at Rajnagar Extension. She owned a second flat in the same society, which had been rented out.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Deepashikha left her home around evening to visit the rented flat and ask for overdue dues from the tenants — identified as Ajay Gupta and Akriti Gupta, both aged around 30-35 years.

The officials said that after she did not return thereafter, her domestic help got suspicious and reached the tenant’s flat.

Thereafter, she found the replies of tenants suspicious and alerted the neighbours, and finally, the police were called around 11.15 pm on Wednesday.

The police said that they conducted a search at the deceased’s rented fifth-floor flat in the high-rise.

“Upon questioning from the tenant couple, the police found the body of the woman in a red-coloured bag. It also came to light that she had gone to her tenant’s flat to collect the pending rent for the past couple of months. The tenant couple has been detained, and a first information report (FIR) will soon be registered upon complaint from the family of the deceased,” said Upasana Pandey, ACP of Nandgram circle.

The officials said that Sharma has two flats in the high-rise, and she, along with her family, was staying in the first-floor flat in tower M while her let-out flat was on the fifth floor of tower L.

“The body of the woman was found in the bag, and prima facie it seems that the woman was strangled. There is also a head injury inflicted with a pressure cooker. We are investigating the case. We recovered the body of the woman in a bag, and social media reports saying that her body was cut in parts are not correct,” police said.

According to the initial investigation, the deceased woman was a teacher at a school in Ghaziabad.

She had rented her flat to the suspect couple for a rent of Rd 18,000 per month about eight months ago. A case was registered, and the body was sent for post-mortem examination.

Further investigation is underway, the ACP added.