Police officers said the attack took place in the early hours of Thursday and the assailants stabbed him over 15 times.

The victim, Jagmohan Singh Kohli, was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. The body was transferred to the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya hospital for postmortem.

Ruling out robbery as a motive — the house was not ransacked — the police have detained Kohli’s wife Sumit Kaur and another person reportedly known to her. They are being questioned for their alleged involvement in the crime.

Sharad Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) said: “We are not satisfied with the statement of his wife as there are some contradictions in it. We are investigating all angles.”

Kohli owned a motor vehicle spare parts factory in Anand Parbat and was living with his two children,

Jasleen (8) and Raunak (6). His wife, who had moved to her father’s home a few weeks ago, was spending the night at the house. The children were away at Kaur’s paternal home, which is located nearby.

Sumit claimed the assailants murdered her husband following a quarrel over money.

According to her statement, the four unknown men used a master key of the main door and barged into the house. They tied her up with a rope and taped her mouth.

Threatening her with dire consequences if she raised an alarm, the miscreants then asked her husband to return Rs 4 lakh that he had taken from them.

Kohli refused, at which the miscreants turned furious and attacked him with sharp weapons. They also strangulated him using a scarf and then made off.

Sumit claimed she somehow managed to untie herself and call in the police.

Investigators are wondering why Sumit did not alert the neighbours when the men began attacking her husband. “We are also doubtful about her version on how she managed to call the police even though her arms and legs were tied with a rope,” said an officer investigating the case.

Outside the Rajouri Garden police station, Kohli’s family members alleged Sumit’s involvement in the crime.

Taranjeet Singh, Kohli’s cousin, said Sumit was living separately for the past four months, apparently due to a marital dispute over Rs 15 lakh.