Betrayal, obscene videos, rage: What drove a 21-year-old to murder her Delhi partner

THe find of obscene videos on a firmly disc, of o'er 15 women, has revealed the darkness secret that sparked one of Delhi’s most disturbing murders this year. Police say a 21-year-old forensic science student from Moradabad killed her 32-year-old partner, a UPSC aspirant, after learning that he had secretly recorded intimate videos of her and refused to delete them.What began as a relationship of trust spiralled into a cycle of betrayal and rage, ending in a murder that investigators say was planned with chilling precision. The woman allegedly drew on her background in forensic science and her fascination with crime shows to stage the killing as an accident and destroy evidence.According to police, the woman enlisted her ex-boyfriend, an LPG distributor, and another man to carry out the crime. On the night of October 5, the three went to the victim’s flat in north Delhi’s Gandhi Vihar, where they allegedly confronted him, assaulted him, and strangled him with a mobile charger wire.To make it look like an accident, they poured ghee and alcohol over the body, opened the gas regulator, and set the flat ablaze.“They opened the gas regulator and ignited a lighter, creating the scene of an accidental fire. The cylinder was placed near the victim’s head. About an hour later, the fire spread and the cylinder exploded, completely burning the body,” said a senior police officer.The next morning, the man’s charred body was found in his fourth-floor apartment. Initially, the incident was treated as a case of negligent conduct with fire. But inconsistencies in the burn patterns and a complaint from the victim’s cousin prompted investigators to dig deeper.CCTV footage showed two men and a woman entering the flat before the blaze - and the woman leaving shortly after. Technical surveillance and phone tracking led police to Moradabad, where they arrested the woman on October 18, her ex-boyfriend on October 21, and their associate two days later.Hard disk containing obscene videosA hard disk recovered from the flat changed the course of the investigation. Police said it contained obscene videos of more than 15 women.“It appears that the deceased had done the same with multiple women and used to record their private videos on his laptop. The laptop has not been recovered yet but the hard disk has been seized,” an officer told HT.Forensic experts are examining the contents to identify the women and determine whether the recordings were consensual. If found otherwise, police said, fresh charges related to voyeurism and violation of privacy could follow.Motive behind the murderInvestigators believe the woman was consumed by humiliation when she confronted her partner and he refused to delete her videos.“She felt betrayed and violated. Her knowledge of forensic science helped her plan the murder and stage it as an accident,” said a senior officer.