Inspired By 'The Staircase' Web Series, 62-Year-Old Techie Murders Wife And Flees With ₹12.75 Lakh In Delhi

Delhi: A shocking incident has come to light from East Delhi. A 62-year-old software consultant allegedly killed his wife after learning a crime strategy from HBO’s true-crime series The Staircase.

He allegedly killed his wife over a long-running property dispute, discarded the murder weapon, and tried to mislead the police.

The incident took place on 30 July, NDTV reported. The accused has been identified as Kamal Singh and the victim as Komal Singh. The incident occurred when the couple were alone in the house; their son had gone to the library and their daughter to the office.

At around 12:45 p.m., Komal was drying clothes on the balcony when her husband hit her on the head from behind with a sword.

The hit was not strong enough to make Komal collapse. She immediately screamed and fled to the kitchen to save herself. Her husband then dragged her by the hair into the living room and stabbed her repeatedly with scissors.

The neighbours would have reportedly heard the victim’s screams, but no one intervened. Kamal’s father even asked his wife to go and check, but she reportedly told him to stay out of their matter, according to the police.

Escape and police investigation

After committing the crime, Kamal put the blood-stained clothes and the sword in a bag, took a shower for about 15 minutes, and then fled on his scooter.

On the way, he abandoned the bag. He then withdrew ₹7,00,000 from two different bank accounts, in addition to the ₹5,75,000 cash he had already taken from his wife’s room. In total, he had approximately ₹12,75,000.

Meanwhile, the couple’s son called his mother several times but received no response. On reaching home at around 9:15 p.m., he found his mother lying in a pool of blood with the scissors next to her body.

When the police arrived, Kamal was missing. They checked the CCTV footage of the area and continuously tracked his location through technical surveillance and electronic evidence.

Initially, Kamal switched on his mobile phone and travelled towards Gorakhpur, prompting the police to suspect that he was attempting to flee to Nepal. However, after reaching Gorakhpur, he switched off the phone and headed towards Mathura in an apparent attempt to mislead the investigating agencies.

Delhi Police arrested Singh near Mathura Railway Station after a three-day manhunt. The police recovered the scooter and all the cash from him.

Murder plan

During questioning, the accused revealed details of the murder and his escape plan. He told investigators that he had planned to destroy the murder weapon, as shown in the web series The Staircase, to weaken the evidence against him. He was planning to flee to Nepal, police said.

The probe also revealed that Kamal and Komal’s marriage had been extremely strained for the past year. During a trip to Mumbai, Kamal had also become closer to another woman.

Motive

The motive behind the crime is believed to be that Kamal wanted to purchase a property in Jagatpuri and have it registered in his father's name. However, according to the police, Komal was demanding a share in the property, leading to frequent arguments between the couple.