Major Nikhil Rai Handa, arrested for brutal murder of his fellow Major’s wife Shailza, had planned her murder after she reportedly spurned his overtures, including demand to marry him. Driven by obsession and stung by rejection, Major Handa decided to bump her off. He appears to have studied similar murders and tried to create an alibi by running over his Honda City car over Shailza Dwivedi’s body.
The FIR lodged at Naraina police station has vivid description of the nature of injuries inflicted on Shailza’s body. “Her top was torn, there were signed of being dragged, a deep wound on the back, a deep cut on her right elbow and a fatal injury on her throat,” the FIR states. “The nature of injuries on the body of the deceased indicates the mental status of the killer,” said a police officer privy to the investigation. She had put up a fight and tried to wriggle out of his clutches but he had apparently overpowered her and stabbed her repeatedly, the official added.
Major Handa not only tried to mislead the police by running his car over the body but also dispose of the “weapon of murder”. Police did recover a blood soaked Swiss knife but the investigators said that was not the weapon used in the grisly murder. “Blood stained Swiss knife was recovered from the possession of the accused but the nature of injuries found on the body of the deceased indicates that a long and sharp weapon was used to stab her,” said a police official.
Police established Handa’s movements after scanning the CCTV footage of Army Base hospital and the Honda City car in question was with only one person and that was Handa, police said.
“Recovery of the murder weapon is extremely important to build a watertight case against the accused Major. We are taking him to Meerut and places where he had gone after committing the murder,” the official said.
Narrating the sequence that led to the murder of Shailza, the official said Handa met her in 2015 and since then they remained in touch even after she moved to Delhi. He made hundreds of calls and followed her movements very closely. He was reportedly annoyed with Major Amit Dwivedi, who had warned him not to come close to his wife, said a police officer.
Police said the Call Data Record (CDR) of the accused shows that he was continuously on phone with Shailza and it was Major Handa who called her more often. The lid of his dalliance with his colleague’s wife was taken off after Major Dwivedi once caught them during a video call. A visibly angry Dwividi warned Handa not to come close to his wife and he scolded his wife too. He even confronted her in the light of the evidence. This made Handa annoyed and he hatched the plan to eliminate her as he was driven out of jealousy and rejection, police added.
Investigators have managed to establish the sequence of events leading to the murder. According to police, Major Handa reached Delhi on Saturday and asked Shailza to meet him. He picked her up from the Base hospital and had an argument with her.
He was too obsessed and was pressurising her to marry him but she refused him on his face. This enraged Handa further and he repeatedly stabbed her with a knife. She appears to have died instantly. He then pushed her body from the car and ran over her body to mislead the police, they said.
Handa went to his house and had a bath, changed his cloths and drove out of the national Capital. After he was seen in the CCTV footage driving his Honda City, the police scanned his CDR and cell locations indicated that he had escaped towards Western Uttar Pradesh.
Since the car was soaked with blood and possible two knives. The Swiss knife contained fingerprints but Handa apparently tried to wipe out his fingerprints from. He then washed his blood stained car and even used a cloth to remove all evidence. The forensic examination of the car resulted in experts lifting blood samples though he had tried his best to wipe out, the police official said.
He was picked up by police after his movements were established. He did try to resist after being nabbed but was brought to the police station for interrogation. “We have got four days police remand will take him to places to gather the material evidence and most importantly the weapon used to kill Shailza” he added.
The Official also said they came to know during the course of investigation that Major Handa was not in touch with his family and his colleagues for quite some time. It appears that he was planning to take revenge on Major Dwivedi after he had warned him to keep off. He was once hospitalised after he complained to migraine, said the official, adding that they are creating a psychological profile of Handa to prepare a watertight case against him.