An AAP worker’s badly mutilated body was found near his home in Outer Delhi’s Begumpur on Monday morning. Police said they were clueless about the identity of the killer.
The man has been identified as Dhirender Ishwar, district president of Aam Aadmi Party’s Purvanchal wing in Begumpur. Ishwar had been working as a masseur in the area for several years.
The deceased, his wife Rakhi and their three-year-old daughter Shruti lived with the rest of their family have been living in Rohini Sector 24 for a long time. Only a fortnight ago, the three had moved into a modest dwelling in Begum Vihar, a few kilometres from their previous residence.
Ishawar’s body was discovered in some bushes just 200 metres from his home by a local man. Dhirender’s head was missing and the assailant had also chopped off his private parts, police said.
The missing body parts have not been recovered so far. Given the nature of injuries, a senior police officer suspected it to be a “hate crime”.
“We are probing the possibility of the deceased having an extramarital affair that could have led to his murder. But it is too premature to come to any conclusion,” said the officer.
Ishwar’s wife, though, has dismissed any possibility of him having an affair. She suspected that her husband was murdered for possessing some video clips that could have spelled danger for some “corrupt” persons.
“My husband’s mobile phone has not been recovered. All the video clips were in that phone. He swas also once involved in a scuffle with a DJB engineer and had later filed an RTI against him. The police must probe the murder from these angles,” said Rakhi.
Ishwar had left home with another AAP worker on his motorcycle on Sunday evening to attend an AAP function in Nangloi in West Delhi. His mother Sumitra who last spoke to him over phone around 7 p.m. on Sunday said her son sounded perfectly fine and said he would return home soon and speak to her at leisure.
When he did not return home by 8 p.m., his wife tried calling him, only to find his mobile phone switched off. She then called the man who had accompanied him. “That man said he had dropped Ishwar on the road near our home and left,” she said. Police have detained that man for questioning.
Ishwar’s murder drew reactions from senior AAP leaders like Dilip Pandey and Sanjay Singh. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself tweeted that he would be visiting the family by afternoon, but there was no word on his visit at the time of filing this report.