Four arrested, main accused on the run: Behind Sarita Vihar murder of woman, twisted revenge tale

On examining call records of the woman, police zeroed in on a 25-year-old man — with nine cases of theft against him — and arrested him on March 3.

“He disclosed that he befriended the prime accused, who is absconding, during his stint in Tihar Jail. The prime accused had an enmity with another undertrial. After being released from jail, he wanted to teach him a lesson. So they hatched a plan. The 25-year-old called up the woman, whom he had known for a while, on February 25 and told her there was a job opportunity,” said Biswal.

On the afternoon of February 25, the accused picked up the woman from her house and took her to his, where the two men and a friend allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Police said they then forced her to write a letter incriminating the man they had an enmity with, and strangled her.

“She was killed for revenge. We have not received any medical report to prove if she was sexually assaulted, and section of gangrape has been added on disclosure of the accused,” said Biswal.

The woman’s family had filed a missing persons complaint on February 26, and were called in to identify her body on February 27.

A relative said, “Her family is economically weak and she was trying to lend a helping hand by finding a job.”

According to police, the accused hired a vehicle from a car rental start-up and roped in two men to dump her body for Rs 4,000. Later that night, her body was dumped near the railway line.

Police are now searching for the prime accused, who allegedly conspired to kill the woman in order to teach his rival a lesson. A police officer said that “the accused hatched the conspiracy after watching a TV show”.