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Mystery surrounds death of couple in Delhi

Swapna Khanna in New Delhi

A young couple was found suffocated to death in north-east Delhi late Thursday night.

Chander Sharma (26), a businessman and Rachna Anand (22) were found inside a Maruti 800, parked in a garage, which was locked from outside.

"It seems that the car battery failed and the air-conditioner stopped. As they closed the garage and the car windows, they got suffocated," said S A Gautam, deputy commissioner of police of north-east Delhi.

"Rachna's body was found in the driver's seat without clothes and Chander, fully dressed, was found on her lap. Chander had known Rachna for four years," he said.

Rachna had gone with her parents to Sai Baba's temple on Lodi Road in south Delhi, as they would every Thursday evening.

"On their way back, Rachna said she wanted to meet her friend Richa and was dropped at Preet Vihar in north-east Delhi," said Rachna's mother Krishna.

"Rachna used to visit Richa frequently, so we did not stop her when she said she wanted to give her prasad."

''We got worried when she did not return home. We tried calling Richa on her mobile telephone, but she did not take the call. We did not know what to do. Around 0300 (IST) some policemen came to our house, saying they had found a girl's body. They asked us to come with them for identification."

"Chander had that evening asked a friend, Navneet Bhalla, to drive them in his Maruti to his shop. After reaching the shop, he parked his car in the garage and asked Bhalla to lock the garage from outside, instructing him to reopen it after two hours," said Gautam.

When Navneet returned after two hours, he found them dead.

The officer said they found a half-consumed liquor bottle, a packet of eatables and some condom packets.

The police are conducting an autopsy to find out whether both consumed liquor. "If they consumed liquor, it could explain their deaths. It could have numbed their senses, resulting in the deaths," he said. He ruled out murder or suicide.

He said that after initial examination, no injuries were found on their bodies, ruling out foul play. ''There were no struggle marks nor was any bottle of poison found," he added.

The post-mortem report stated suffocation as the cause of death.

"Rachna was very talented and wanted to make it big in life,'' said her father, O P Anand, who works for the Delhi Transport Corporation.

She wanted to become an airhostess and had also undertaken training for it. She had got through the initial rounds, for being an airhostess with Sahara Airlines, and the medical round was left.

"She never mentioned anything about a boy in her life. In fact, in a day, a family was to come and see her for their son," he added.

He said, "Richa called up my daughter and asked her to meet her. I suspect Richa got her kidnapped and killed."

In 1998, a couple died in similar circumstances in a south Delhi neighbourhood. Police investigations had then indicated that the couple inhaled carbon monoxide, as they too had closed the garage door and car windows.

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