Police have arrested a woman and her lover for hatching a plan and killing her husband in Haryana's Panipat back in 2021.
The victim, Vinod Barada, was hit by a Punjab-registered vehicle on October 5, 2021. He survived the accident but both his legs got fractured. Two months later, on December 15, 2021, Vinod Barada was shot dead at his house in Panipat.
Probe has revealed that Vinod's wife, Nidhi, along with her lover Sumit, had conspired to kill her husband. They first staged an accident which Vinod survived. Later, they shot him dead.
The matter was reported when Virendra, Vinod's uncle, filed a complaint in December 2021. He told police that after Vinod's accident, a case was registered against the driver, Dev Sunar, and he was arrested.
Fifteen days later, Dev Sunar, a resident of Bathinda, approached Vinod for a settlement, which he refused. Dev Sunar then threatened him.
On December 15, 2021, Dev Sunar, carrying a pistol, entered Vinod's house, locked the door from inside, and shot Vinod in the waist and head. Vinod was taken to hospital, where he was declared dead.
A police official said that Dev Sunar was imprisoned in Panipat jail and the case was under trial in court. Recently, the brother of Vinod Barada, who lives in Australia, sent a message via WhatsApp expressing suspicion about other accomplices. The official took the matter seriously and assigned a team to re-investigate. The team re-examined the case file and received permission from the court to reopen the investigation.
It was discovered that Dev Sunar was in contact with a man named Sumit, who frequently communicated with Vinod’s wife, Nidhi. On June 7, the police arrested Sumit and during interrogation, he confessed to plotting Vinod's accident and later getting him shot.
Sumit said that in 2021, he met Nidhi at a gym where he was a trainer and soon they became friends. When Vinod discovered their relationship, he confronted them, leading to arguments with Nidhi. Sumit and Nidhi then planned Vinod’s murder by staging the accident first.
Police said that Sumit offered Dev Sunar Rs 10 lakh and covered all expenses to execute the murder. Dev Sunar was provided with a Punjab-registered loading pickup truck, with which he hit Vinod in October. When Vinod survived, they devised a plan to shoot him. Dev Sunar was bailed out from jail, equipped with an illegal weapon, and sent to Vinod’s house under the pretense of seeking forgiveness. On December 15, 2021, Dev Sunar entered the house and shot Vinod.
Sumit was financing Dev Sunar’s case and family expenses.
Both Nidhi and Sumit were presented in court on Saturday and subsequently sent to judicial custody.
