The alleged killers of Deepshikha Sharma could not slip out of a Ghaziabad high-rise with her body hidden in a suitcase late on Wednesday night by the alertness the victim’s domestic help, who stopped them from escaping, investigators said on Thursday.
Investigators said that 45-year-old Minni’s intervention stopped the tenant couple accused of murdering the 48-year-old woman from escaping the Aura Chimera high-rise in Raj Nagar Extension, buying crucial time for the police to reach the spot and recover the body.
According to police, Deepshikha had gone around 8pm to collect five months of pending rent –about ₹90,000 –from her tenants, Jay Gupta (37) and his wife Aakriti Gupta (32), who lived in her fifth-floor flat. She had asked Minni, who had worked for the family for nearly a decade, to accompany her. While Deepshikha went upstairs to the flat, Minni stayed near the tower, walking the family’s pet dog.
Minutes later, inside the flat, an argument allegedly broke out over the unpaid rent. Police say Deepshikha was strangled with a dupatta and struck on the head with a pressure cooker. Her body was then stuffed into a red trolley suitcase.
Downstairs, unaware of what had transpired, Minni waited. When Deepshikha did not return for a long time, she grew anxious and began looking for her. She went up to the tenants’ flat multiple times, searching inside rooms and even the bathroom, but was told repeatedly that Deepshikha was not there.
Minni told police that at around 9.45 pm, she spotted the tenant couple standing with a red trolley bag. An autorickshaw was waiting nearby.
“They said they were going to their hometown and had done some shopping, including blankets, which were in the bag,” Minni told police. The explanation did not convince her. She insisted that they could not leave until Deepshikha was found. “I told them I will not allow you to go anywhere till Deepshikha ji comes back,” she said.
Confronted, the couple withdrew. They unloaded the trolley from the auto, took it back to their flat, abandoning what police say was an attempt to dispose of the body.
By then, Minni had already called Deepshikha’s husband, Umesh Sharma, urging him to come home immediately. Sharma, who works in Faridabad, rushed to the society. Along with Minni and a few neighbours, he began searching the premises again. “During the search, I noticed that one of them, either her husband or she, remained in the flat and would soon lock it from inside. This behaviour made me suspicious,” Minni said.
Their concerns escalated when the tenants continued to give evasive replies. Around 11.15pm, Sharma alerted the police.
A search of the fifth-floor flat followed. Inside the bed, officers found the red trolley bag. When it was opened, Deepshikha’s body was recovered.
Police officials said Minni’s presence of mind was critical in cracking the case quickly. “Had the accused managed to leave the premises with the bag, it could have delayed the investigation significantly,” said Umesh Kumar, station house officer of Nandgram police station.
The accused couple were arrested on Thursday and booked for murder and destruction of evidence. During questioning, Jay Gupta allegedly admitted that they had called an auto and planned to remove the bag from the building but abandoned the plan when Minni blocked them.