Fear of family made Delhi woman keep marriage a well-guarded secret

Living in a crowded residential-market area in East Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar, Chaudhary was regarded as an “educated and good natured” girl by her neighbours.

A woman living in the same lane said, “She taught my children for a year till Class V and was well-mannered. She would also play badminton with kids on the street here. We learned just now she was married. She didn’t mention anything to anyone.”

A police officer involved with the investigation said Bhati, who works as a milkman, would visit Chaudhary’s house as her family also ran a dairy business, and that is how the couple are believed to have met.

Hailing from a village near UP’s Bulandshahr, Bhati would visit the city every day to deliver milk from his farm there, said Bittu, one of his acquaintances in New Ashok Nagar.

“He recently completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts and was planning to do a post-graduate degree. He did not mention anything about Sheetal. I only found out about her a couple of days ago,” Bittu said.

Bhati’s mobile phone was answered by one of his friends Saturday, who said he was away from home because “he is upset.”

Chaudhary’s neighbours said she was studying for a bachelor’s degree and wanted to start working after completing her studies. “When we didn’t see her for a few days, we thought she had gone somewhere. But when police came to her house Friday afternoon with her family members, we thought there was something wrong,” the neighbour said. The house was locked and empty Saturday.

Police are probing if the killing was premeditated. An officer claimed, “Bhati’s family had gone to speak with Chaudhary’s family, and a relative is believed to have said they would rather see her dead than let her marry in the same gotra.”

On January 30, Chaudhary had told her parents and the rest of her family about the marriage, and they allegedly strangled her. An investigation began after February 17, when Bhati filed a complaint that his wife was missing.

According to police, after allegedly killing Chaudhary, the family drove 80-odd kilometres to UP to dump her body,

which was kept in the rear seat of a car her parents drove. Chaudhary’s family, the officer added, hails from a village near Sikandrabad and the initial plan was to burn the body in the village. “They changed the plan on the way to the village after seeing the canal and fearing that people in the village might suspect that something was wrong,” the officer said.