New Delhi, March 13 The Delhi Police have arrested a 24-year-old Delhi University student for allegedly strangling a woman to death in a hotel room in the Old Delhi's Lahori Gate area, as the victim was "pressuring" him to marry her, an official said on Friday.
Abhishek Tiwari, a resident of Shahdara, has been arrested in connection with the murder of the 25-year-old woman, whose body was found in a hotel room earlier this week, DCP (North) Raja Banthia said. The victim worked as an accountant for a private company in Chandni Chowk.
During interrogation, Tiwari told police that he was pursuing a BCom degree through the School of Open Learning, Delhi University, and was working as an accountant at a shop in Chandni Chowk, the DCP said.
Police said he met the woman about two years ago through a common friend, and they developed a close friendship.
However, recently, the woman had been pressuring him to marry her, which he did not want.
"Due to the pressure, the accused planned the murder and called her to meet him at a hotel on Church Mission Road on March 11. After having physical relations with her, he strangled her to death with his hands and fled from the spot," the DCP said.
The matter came to light around 12.30 am on the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday, when a staff member of the hotel informed the local police that the occupants of a room were not responding to repeated knocks on the door.
"When police forced open the door, a woman was found lying on the bed, partially covered with a blanket. There was blood on the bed and clothes lying nearby. The crime scene has been examined," the officer said.
Police said the woman, a resident of Maujpur in north-east Delhi, lived with her parents, grandmother, and younger sister.
She checked into the hotel around noon on March 11 with Tiwari, who was reportedly seen leaving the hotel once around 5 pm after locking the room from the outside.
The woman's family had lodged a missing person report at the Jafrabad police station after she did not return home on Wednesday, with her phone unreachable.
Police will produce the accused, who has been booked under Section 103 (murder) of the BNS, before the concerned court and seek his custody for further questioning, the officer said.