Payal Bhati (22) and Ajay Thakur (28) killed Hema Chaudhury , a mall employee on November 12 and faked Payal’s death to avoid being caught as they had planned to kill her cousin later to “avenge” her parents’ suicide

Photo Credit : Noida Police,

New Delhi, December 3

The Noida Police have arrested a woman and her partner have been arrested for allegedly murdering a shopping mall employee and disfiguring her face by pouring boiling mustard oil.

The accused have been identified as Payal Bhati (22) and Ajay Thakur (28) who killed Hema Chaudhury on November 12. 

The police said the accused faked Payal’s death to avoid being caught as they had planned to kill her cousin later to “avenge” her parents’ suicide.

According to the police, Payal’s brother had taken a loan from their cousin and his in-laws, which led to financial distress in their household. Payal’s parents died by suicide in May and she held her cousin responsible. An FIR for abetment of suicide was lodged against the cousin.

Payal had allegedly planned to kill a woman with similar physical characteristics and disfigure the face to pass the matter off as a suicide. Later, Hema, an acquaintance of Ajay, was asked to visit them with a promise of Rs 5,000, police added. 

On the day of the incident, Hema was allegedly strangled and her wrists were slashed. They put Payal’s clothes on the body and disfigured the face using hot mustard oil. A suicide note was left at the spot, which alleged that ‘Payal’ had decided to end her life after sustaining burn injuries in a cooking accident.

However, the case came to the fore when Hema’s sister filed a missing person complaint. The police had put the phones of both the suspects on surveillance and based on calls made to Hema’s phone from Ajay, the duo came under radar. 

The police recovered a knife along with an illegal pistol with ammunition and three phones, including two belonging to the victim.