Nigerian Kills Girlfriend In India, Hides Body In A Bag

The police in the Indian capital of Delhi have arrested a Nigerian who allegedly strangulated his live-in girlfriend, stuffed her body in a bag and left it in their rented flat in west Delhi. Then he fled to Mumbai.

The Nigerian, identified as Innocent Nwayo, was arrested following investigation in a case in which a woman’s body was found stuffed in a bag in a flat in Uttam Nagar.

According to the police, the couple who was living together had a fight during a party in his flat on April 28 and the girl, later identified as Chong, alias Cecilia, a Burmese national, died during another scuffle a day after.

According to preliminary police investigation, as reported by Indian newspapers today, the victim suspected that Nwayo was interested in one of the girls, a Tibetan, that attended the party and they had heated argument after his friends left.

Nwayo, after realising that Chong was dead, went to the market and bought a bag.

“He had planned to chop the body into pieces and stuff it in the bag but couldn’t do so and went to Mumbai after locking the room,” Ashok Chand, DCP (crime) said.

“The choice of the bag — which in this case was a large rucksack of sorts that usually foreigners carry — was a big clue. We were sure, to a certain degree, that a foreigner was behind the crime,” said a senior police officer.

The decomposed body of the girl was recovered on May 20 when Gurdev Singh, owner of the house, where the couple was living, complained that a foul smell was coming out of the locked flat. He had gone there to collect a three-week rent.

He tried to contact Innocent on his cellphone but it was switched off. He informed the police and the flat was broken open. In the bedroom, the police found a black-coloured travel bag.

“A body wrapped in a blanket and tied with plastic rope was found inside the bag,” Chand added. The girl was working in a beauty parlour in Munirka and had met Innocent at a party in November 2010 and they had started living together from December.

The police claimed that Nwayo had initially fled to Mumbai. But later he returned and was arrested from Kotla Mubarakpur on a tip-off on Sunday. He had gone there to meet a Nigerian friend.

DCP (crime) Ashok Chand, said, the accused was a police sergeant in Nigeria for seven years and he gave up his job to come to India. “Nwayo came to India on October 31 last year. His visa expires on October 28.

He had told his landlord that he was into garment business and was working as a commission agent. He initially stayed at Kotla Mubarakpur and then shifted to Uttam Nagar.”

Nwayo had met Cecilia at a party in Vasant Vihar in November last year. The woman had come to Delhi last year and was working at a parlour in Munirka. The couple decided to move in together in January.

“During interrogation, Nwayo revealed that before coming to India he had worked in the Nigerian police force. After working there for seven years he had resigned and started working as a commission agent in Nigeria and came to India in October 2010,” Chand further said.

“Investigations revealed that the Nigerian had fled to Mumbai on May 3. He stayed there for some time and then returned to Delhi to visit his friend, Prince Michael in Kotla Mubarakpur. We conducted a raid and nabbed the accused,’’ said Chand.

Nwayo told cops he went to INA Market on May 1 and purchased a black travel bag to dispose of the body.

“His initial plan was to cut the body into pieces. But due to the foul smell, he wrapped it in a blanket, tied it with a plastic rope and put it in the bag. He did not have the courage to take the body out, so he locked his flat and fled to Mumbai,” said a police officer.

There have been four cases of women’s bodies being found in travel bags in Delhi this year. This is the first time that the accused has been arrested, according to reports by Indian newspapers.