Tailor and two accomplices surrender at police station at night

Annoyed at unpaid wages, three men allegedly killed a fashion designer and her domestic help in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj Enclave on Wednesday night. After murdering her and her servant, they ransacked the entire house and looted cash and jewellery, and fled the spot. However, around 2.45am they themselves went to Vasant Kunj South police station to surrender. They reportedly told the police that they feared that the police will trouble their family if they ran away.

They confessed to their crime and told the police that the bodies were lying in a flat of Vasant Enclave, following which officials rushed to the spot to verify the details.

Police recovered the bodies of 53-year-old Maya Lakhani, who ran a boutique called Tulsi Creations in Green Park, and her domestic help, 50-year-old Bahadur, a Nepalese national, with multiple stab wounds in the bungalow. The bodies were lying in a pool of blood.

“The accused looted jewellery and ransacked the house after killing the two. It is estimated that the incident took place between 10 pm and 11.30 pm on Wednesday,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Southwest district Devendra Arya said. Identified as Rahul Anwar (24), the master tailor who worked with Lakhani, his cousin Rahmat (24) and his friend Wasim (25) have been arrested for murders, said Arya.

The tailor, with the help of two of his relatives, killed Lakhani as she had not cleared his dues. When she cried for help, her servant came to her rescue but he too was stabbed to death.

“One of the accused Rahul Anwar was working as a tailor at the deceased fashion designer’s workshop and was staying in her home for the last three years. He committed the crime with two of his relatives in an attempt to loot,” Joint CP Ajay Chaudhary said.

A case has been registered and the three accused have been arrested, the DCP added.

Police said Lakhani had set up a tailoring workshop in her home.

During interrogation, the three said they had hatched a conspiracy to kill her. Anwar claimed Lakhani had not paid him for a couple of months and would pay in piecemeal. He was annoyed and hatched a plan 10 days ago to kill her, a senior police officer said. Anwar had been working under Lakhani for close to three years, he said.

“After committing the crime, the accused said, they stole valuable items, including jewellery, from the house and left in Lakhani’s car, said an officer privy to the investigation of the grisly twin murders.

Police said the accused had four knives with them which they had purchased from a weekly Sunday Bazar in Vasant Kunj. After killing Lakhani and her domestic help, the accused went to a pond behind Rangpuri Pahari area in Vasant Kunj to discreetly dispose of the knives and their clothes that had blood stains.

The accused thought police would trouble their families if they ran away. So, they decided to surrender, the senior officer said. Police said Lakhani was single and had been living in Vasant Kunj for several years. “Lakhani’s sister lives in Gurugram and her brother in Goa. We have informed them regarding the incident and a case has been registered,” said the DCP adding that the crime scene has been preserved and the bodies sent for a post-mortem examination and further investigations are in progress.