Delhi: Women's charred body found in suitcase; cousin among two arrested
New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI): A 25-year-old woman's charred body was found stuffed in a suitcase in east Delhi, with police arresting her cousin and his accomplice for killing her after she allegedly pressured him to leave his family and live with her, officials said on Monday.
The burnt body was found packed inside a suitcase lying by the roadside near Shivaji Road between Ambedkar Chowk and Kerala Public School, on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, police said.
Police have arrested, Amit Tiwari (22), a taxi driver, and his cousin Anuj Kumar (20), a welder, residents of Khora Colony in Ghaziabad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (East) Abhishek Dhania said.
According to police, the victim Shilpa Pandey, had been pressuring Amit, to leave his family and live with her permanently. She had also allegedly threatened to falsely implicate him and his family if he refused.
Unable to cope with these demands the two accused conspired to murder her. After committing the murder, they burned her body and disposed of it inside a suitcase to destroy evidence, the DCP said.
He said to destroy the evidence Amit purchased petrol and stubble. The accused placed the suitcase containing the body in an isolated area because of high security in Delhi due to assembly elections of and set it on fire, using the stubble.
Police received a PCR call about a charred body found on the roadside. A forensic team and crime investigation team were called to examine the scene, the officer said.
Upon reaching the scene, they discovered the burnt body of a woman, aged between 20 and 35 years, inside a burnt suitcase. The body was sent to the LBS Hospital mortuary, he said.
An FIR was registered at Ghazipur police station and formed multiple teams under the supervision of Additional DCP Vinit Kumar and DCP Abhishek Dhania.
CCTV footage provided a vital lead, showing a taxi linked to the crime. Using technical surveillance and mobile data, the police traced the vehicle and identified its owner, leading to the arrest of the accused, Dhania said.
Police said Amit had been friends with Anuj for the past six to seven years. The duo confessed to the crime during interrogation and the vehicle used in the crime has been impounded.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
