Blackmailed over his homosexual video, married shopkeeper kills male partner

New Delhi: A 36-year-old shop owner killed his employee who had allegedly threatened to circulate videos that he had recorded showing them engaging in a sexual act, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, took the help of his nephew and another associate, to kill his 22-year-old partner and dumped the body near Sarojini Nagar Metro station, they said.

The accused, who runs a clothes shop at the Sarojini Nagar market, has been arrested along with the two others for conspiring and dumping the victim’s body after killing him, they said.

The shop owner, who got married 14 years ago, has two children, they said.

The police said on Saturday, they recovered the body of a 22-year-old man, a native of Kodarma district in Jharkhand from Delhi’s Sarojini area.

The police said a case of murder was registered and during the investigation, it was found that the deceased was in a relationship with the shop owner and had secretly recorded videos while engaging in a sexual act.

The deceased was also blackmailing the shop owner by threatening to make the video viral and extorting money from him, the police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Gaurav Sharma said on the basis of technical surveillance, it was revealed that both the victim and the shop owner were present at the Sarojini Nagar Metro Station — that is — near the place where the body was dumped.

“As per CCTV footage, the deceased was last seen alive with his shop owner. The shop owner was then examined. He told the police that in order to execute his plan, he contacted his nephew who came from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi,” he said.

The officer said the shop owner’s nephew and his friend booked two rooms in a guest house at Yusuf Sarai in the Safdarjung Enclave area.

When the CCTV cameras of the guest house were analyzed, both of them were seen carrying a trolley bag into the guest house. They stayed there in one of the rooms while the shopkeeper went to Sarojini Nagar market to take the victim.

“The shop owner along with his employee reached the guest house, as seen in footage captured in CCTV camera. His nephew and his friend cut the nylon rope from the guest house balcony area which was used for drying clothes.

“After 5-10 minutes, all of them overpowered the victim and the shopkeeper’s nephew strangulated the victim with the nylon rope. Later, his friend used his muffler to strangulate him,” Sharma said.

They removed his shoes, jacket and stuffed his body inside the trolley bag. They then dumped the body at a secluded place near Sarojini Nagar metro station and covered it with a plastic sheet, the police officer said.

The investigation team conducted raids at Khurja in Bulandshahar and the shop owner’s nephew and his friend were nabbed from there, police said.

“The accused disclosed that they had made plan to kill the victim in a clandestine way on Jan 19 but deferred their plan after seeing the heavy deployment of police and executed it in intervening night of January 28 and 29.