Army officer called colleague's wife 3,300 times before killing her
The murder of an army officer's wife in Delhi by her alleged stalker is getting messier. New reports claim the accused, Major Nikhil Handa, didn't know her through her husband, but had befriended him to get closer to her. Before killing her, he exchanged 3,300 calls with her since January, to convince her to leave her husband. Saturday, when she again refused, he killed her.
Nikhil saw Shailza's photos on Facebook in 2015
Nikhil first saw Shailza's photos on Facebook in 2015, when both he and her husband Amit Dwivedi were posted in Dimapur, Nagaland. To stay close to her, he befriended Amit. But when Amit was shifted to Delhi, Shailza moved home to Amritsar with their six-year-old son. On June 4, Nikhil arrived in Delhi for "migraine treatment" and then went to Amritsar to meet her.
This Saturday, Nikhil's patience ran out
Handa kept confronting Shailza at the Delhi Army Base hospital, which she used to visit for physiotherapy, and kept asking her to leave Amit. Saturday, they met and left the hospital in his car, and he reiterated his demand. He even called his wife and began arguing with her "to make his divorce intentions clear to Shailza," an investigator said, but she refused again.
He slit her throat and rammed her with the car
Nikhil then stopped the car and slit her throat. She got out and tried walking away, bleeding, but he rammed the car into her. She fell on the road. Nikhil then ran over her. Her body was dragged for a few meters before he sped away.
He spent the next hours getting rid of "clues"
After the crime, Nikhil confessed to some family members, including his brother from whom he asked for some money, and to a lawyer. He crushed and dumped Shailza's mobile and SIM card, got his car washed, and burnt his blood-soaked clothes. On the lawyer's advise, he also planned to surrender, hoping the army would be mild towards him during questioning.
Police scan 200 CCTV cameras, search 500 premises in 20hrs
After removing all clues he could, Nikhil fled to Meerut and spent the night in the army mess. But in less than 20 hours, Delhi Police scanned 200 CCTV cameras and searched 500 premises before nabbing him Sunday. Nikhil claims it was Shailza who was "over-obsessed," and he had killed her as she was pressuring him to leave his wife. But police are doubtful.
