A 35-year-old woman allegedly killed her husband with the help of her friend in northwest Delhi’s Ashok Vihar on May 1. She then reportedly tried to pass the death off as having been caused by Covid-19, police said. However, no medical records, the suspicion of neighbours and the final autopsy report of the man nailed the woman and her accomplice, who confessed to the murder on Monday and were arrested, senior police officials said.

Police identified the victim as Sharat Das, a 45-year-old shopkeeper, who was married to Anita Das, 35. The couple hail from Odisha and has two children, who live with Anita’s relatives in Noida. The woman’s friend, who allegedly helped her kill Sharat, was identified as Sanjay, 32, police said.

According to the police, the incident came to light when one of the neighbours called up the control room on May 2 and reported about a man’s suspicious death. The caller said that while interacting with the deceased’s wife, they found that something was suspicious because the woman had mentioned to them that her husband possibly died of Covid-19, but none of them had seen the man unwell or visiting any hospital. On this, a police team reached the couple’s house to enquire about the death, officials said.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said during preliminary enquiry, the woman was asked to present her husband’s medical history related to Covid-19 or any other disease that may have caused his death, but she couldn’t. When cross-questioned, she claimed that she had found her husband dead in the morning but couldn’t give any satisfactory reasons as to how or why. When we asked if her man had particularly shown symptoms of Covid, she answered in the negative, the DCP said.

"On this, the man’s body was removed from the house and was taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital for a post-mortem. The woman and her two children were asked to stay indoors until the autopsy reports were out," Arya said.

The DCP said, on May 4, the autopsy report of the man came and the cause of death was revealed as "asphyxia, ante mortem smothering".

"On this, we registered a case of murder and Anita was detained from her house. When she was interrogated thoroughly, she kept repeating that she wasn’t aware how her husband died. However, when she was confronted with facts, like why did she not take him to a hospital or why wasn’t he under any medication, she broke down and confessed that she had killed him," Arya said.

The DCP said, Anita told police that she is in an extramarital relationship with one Sanjay, who also lives in the same locality. "She said, some months ago, Sharat came to know about her extramarital relationship and they often used to fight over it. She said she told Sanjay to get rid of Sharat and they planned to eliminate him during the pandemic to avoid suspicion. On the night of May 1, when Sharat was asleep Anita called Sanjay and they smothered the man using a blanket," the officer said.