A 21-year-old youth allegedly strangulated his elder sister when she objected to his chewing of tobacco and later 'committed suicide' by hanging himself at south west Delhi's Mahabir Enclave area, police said today.
Deepak Kumar's body was found by his elder brother Anil, 28, at their residence at around 1.30 am yesterday, after which he informed the police, said RA Sanjeev, DCP of south west district police.
The youth had allegedly hanged himself from a beam of their single-storey house hours after 'strangulating' his elder sister Neelam, 23, who fought with him over chewing of tobacco, he said.
Anil told police that he was in office when he received a phone call by a neighbour at around 8 pm on Saturday, saying that his brother and sister were not seen for a long time after they had a fight when Deepak was allegedly caught chewing tobacco.
Following this, Anil rushed home and found the main door locked. He was told by another neighbour that Deepak was seen going towards Dabri flyover.
When Anil reached there and inquired about his sister, he was persuaded by his younger brother to return home.
Later, Anil found that Neelam's phone was left behind, and assumed that she would have gone to a relative's place where she used to go after fights with Deepak.
At night, Anil woke up to check if his sister had come back. He found that Deepak too was not in his room after which he found his body hanging from a beam near the staircase.
Thereafter, Anil called the police and the body was sent for post-mortem examination. Deepak was lately undergoing treatment for suspected schizophrenia, the official said.
Following this, while Anil was looking for money kept in a bed box for cremation of his younger brother, he saw Neelam's stole and digging into the clothes, he found her body in the box.
According to preliminary investigation, she was strangulated to death with the stole. Later, Deepak's finger prints were found on the bed box as well as the woman's body, indicating that Neelam was murdered by him, he said
Neelam often used to stop her brother from consuming tobacco, especially after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and this led to frequent arguments - which many a times turned violent - between the two, the official said, adding, a case has been registered under relevant sections of IPC.
