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Tuesday, March 2, 1999

20 years after honeymoon murder, doctor gets lifer

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE  
NEW DELHI, Mar 1: Twenty years after he allegedly chopped his wife to death during their honeymoon trip, a city court today convicted Dr Mahendra Singh Dahiya to life imprisonment.

The Sonepat-based doctor had allegedly killed his wife Namita Lochab -- a Britisher -- at Brussels on May 29, 1979. The court held him guilty for murder and tampering with evidence.

Dahiya got married to Lochab on September 5, 1978 at Sonepat. On February 27, 1979 the couple flew to Britain to live with Lochab's parents. The marriage was registered there on May 26, 1979.The couple subsequently left on a five-day honeymoon tour of Europe organised by Cosmos Tours of London. Their first stop was Brussels where they stayed at Hotel Arenberg.

In the morning of May 28, 1979, the tour group assembled in the hotel's hall. The Dahiya couple was absent. On being asked, Dahiya informed the tour operator that the couple had decided to stay back in the hotel.On May 29, 1979 some parts of a body, except the torso, wrapped in clothes, werefound in a container about 100 meters from Hotel Arenberg. Dahiya had left Brussels in the afternoon after making some extra payment to the hotel, saying that his wife would stay on. On reaching Britain on May 30, Dahiya went to his sister-in-law's house. There he was asked about Lochab and was unable to give a satisfactory explanation.

A complaint on Namita's disappearance was lodged at the police station. While returning from the police station, Dahiya escaped. He left for India via Frankfurt and reached the country on June 6, 1979.

Two months later, a torso was recovered in the canal of Vergote docks. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem said that the torso and various body parts belonged to a woman. Further investigations confirmed that the body was Namita Lochab's. It was confirmed after matching the blood sample of the body parts, torso and the collected blood samples from the floor of the hotel's bathroom. The blood group also matched the blood found in the suitcase that Dahiya left at hisin-law's house in Britain.

The accused was described as an individual who knew human anatomy.The Brussels-Belgium Interpol informed the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) about Dahiya's alleged offence. Consequently, the CBI registered a case and took up the investigation.

The investigations were also conducted in Belgium and Britain. After the investigations, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Dahiya on July 30, 1985. Dahiya was arrested on May 9, 1988.Statements recorded in Brussels and Britain were produced as evidence in the court during Dahiya's trial.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.


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