Noida man hammers wife to death over suspicion of affair, surrenders before police

Blinded by suspicion, a Noida man allegedly bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer at their upscale Sector 15 home on Friday afternoon and then walked more than two kilometres to the police station to confess to the gruesome killing, senior officers said.

Police said Noor-ul-lah Haider, 55, a computer engineering graduate, suspected his wife of having an extramarital afafir. Around noon, after what family members said was a night-long argument, he allegedly locked their bedroom door, muffled her screams with a pillow, and repeatedly struck her on the head with a hammer till she died.

The victim, Asma Khan, 42, worked as a civil engineer at a private firm in Sector 62, Noida. She lived with her husband and two children — Samad, 19, a BTech student at Amity University, and 12-year-old Inaya — in a two-storey house in Block C of Sector 15.

“On Friday around 1pm, my wife Farida (Asma’s sister) received a call from Samad, who informed her that his mother was dead. When Farida asked what had happened, Samad said his father killed her, and she was lying in a pool of blood on the bed,” said Nadeem, Farida’s husband and a resident of Jamia Nagar in Delhi.

He said, “By the time we reached Noida, police had been informed. Around noon, when Asma and Haider were in their room, it is suspected that he covered her face with a pillow and repeatedly hit her on the head with a hammer.”

Asma’s family revealed that the couple had been quarrelling for the past several days. Around 5am on Friday, Asma had called her sister, seeking her intervention as Haider and she had been fighting through the night.

“On Friday morning, my wife and other relatives went to Asma’s house. Asma and Haider were counselled for over five hours by relatives, who left around 11am,” Nadeem said.

He said Asma’s mother, Husnara Begum, stayed back at the house in an attempt to pacify the tense household. “Once the others left, Asma and Haider retired to their room and the children to theirs. It was then that he locked the door from inside and killed her,” Ndaeem said.

Amit Kumar Maan, station house officer of Phase 1 police station, said: “After the murder, Haider walked over 2km to the Sector 20 police station to surrender. He informed officers at the station that he had killed his wife over suspicions of an affair.”

The Sector 20 police immediately alerted Phase 1 police, who dispatched a team to the scene to secure the premises and begin the investigation.

“A case under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at Phase 1 police station, and the body has been sent for an autopsy,” Maan said.

Additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida, Sumit Shukla, said, “Haider accepted that he killed his wife over suspicion of an affair. He did not express any remorse for his act. We have recovered the hammer from the spot, and further investigation is underway to record the statements of the suspect and the others.”