The Delhi Police Saturday arrested a man who allegedly hacked his estranged wife to death at their son’s house in South Delhi and stayed in hiding in an ashram. The police said the accused, Pramod Jha, 60, told them that he had an argument with his wife Kiran Jha over her ‘extra-marital’ affairs hours before he killed her in her sleep on August 7.
Kiran had left her husband 10 years ago and was staying with their son Durgesh Jha and his family in Delhi’s Neb Sarai area, according to the police. Since his wife left him, Pramod had been living as an ascetic in his village of Jamalpur in Bihar, and he sustained through small donations he received, said the police.
The police said Pramod told them that he left Bihar 25 years ago and worked as a guard in Delhi. He then got into religious preaching and became a self-styled saint in the capital, said the police.
Pramod lived with his family in Neb Sarai but left for Bihar in 2016 after he started suspecting his wife of extra-marital affairs, said the police. He then started living with his ailing mother in Bihar, and she passed away in May this year, they added.
“On June 31, he travelled on the same train from Munger in Bihar to Delhi as his wife, who was there to attend her mother’s funeral. He arrived in Delhi on August 1, and his daughter took him to her grandmother’s house in the Devli village. A heated argument erupted between the accused and his wife over alleged extra-marital affairs,” said Ankit Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South.
In a fit of rage, Pramod allegedly brutally murdered his wife with a hammer while she was asleep. The police said he had brought the hammer from his village, planning the murder in advance if his wife did not follow him back. According to the police, after the murder, Pramod re-dressed as a saint and fled the scene. The police circulated lookout posters across the capital in a bid to nab the accused.
“From the analysis of CCTV footage, the police found out that the accused fled around midnight on August 6, dressed in the attire of a saint. The team followed his movement via multiple CCTV cameras, tracing his route. He used auto-rickshaws, took lifts on two-wheelers, and travelled some distance on foot across Badarpur, Jaitpur, Moladband, Meethapur, and Harinagar areas,” DCP Chauhan said.
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The breakthrough came after a five-day search when the head priest at a Pitampura-based ashram saw the poster with Pramod’s picture and recognised him.
“The head of an ashram at Pitampura revealed that a man matching the description of Pramod, who was referred by a disciple from Bihar, was staying at their Qutubgarh branch. Immediately, a team led by Inspector Pawan conducted a raid and arrested Pramod Jha,” DCP Chauhan said.
