Probe revealed that the man was murdered elsewhere and the body dumped in the Sukhdev Vihar drain.
A tattoo on the decomposed body of a man, which was found in a trolley bag floating in a drain in Delhi's posh New Friends Colony area, has led police to arrest seven persons, including his wife and her lover.
On August 10, police received information about a body in a suitcase floating in a drain at Sukhdev Vihar. The decomposed body appeared to be of a man aged about 35 years. While the decomposition made recognition difficult, police noticed "Naveen" inked on the right hand.
Investigation suggested that the man was murdered somewhere else and the body dumped in the drain, Deputy Commissioner of Police R P Meena said in a statement.
Following the recovery, police registered a case under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC.
During the probe, police found a missing person report lodged at Neb Sarai police station in South Delhi that said a man named Naveen had been missing.
In the report, the man's wife Muskan stated that her husband was missing since August 8.
On reaching the address mentioned in the report, police found Muskan left the rented home on August 11. Police tracked down her mobile location and reached her new home at Khanpur where she was found living with her mother Meenu and two-year-old daughter.
Muskan denied there was any tattoo on Naveen's hand but his brother confirmed there was.
According to police, Muskan initially said she and Naveen quarrelled on August 7 and that she started bleeding from the mouth after he hit her. She said she made a PCR call that night and went to AIIMS for a medical examination. By the time she returned, Naveen had left, she told police.
Police found that she did make a PCR call but no medico-legal case record was found. Muskan was also questioned why she lodged a missing complaint five days after Naveen went missing.
Examination of her call details revealed that she was in touch with her friend Jamal. Further probe using Jamal's phone location showed he was at Muskan's home on August 7 and at Sukhdev Vihar, where the body was dumped, the next day.
On further questioning, police said, Muskan confessed that Naveen found Jamal at their home on the night of August 7 and a quarrel followed. Hearing heated arguments, Jamal's friends Vivek and Koslendra, who were standing outside, entered the room and the three grabbed Naveen.
While Jamal and Vivek held Naveen down, Koslendra allegedly stabbed him multiple times in the neck.
According to police, Muskan also said that the body was washed in the bathroom and the room cleaned. The blood-stained clothes of Naveen, Jamal and others were dumped in a drain at Chirag Delhi and the body was packed in the trolley bag and thrown in the Sukhdev Vihar drain, said the police statement.
Muskan was the first to be placed under arrest. Thereafter, police arrested Vivek from Devli in Delhi, Jamal from Moradabad station in Uttar Pradesh and Koslendra from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
Vivek's brother Vishal, who allegedly drove the auto used to dispose of the body and Jamal's friend Rajpal, also allegedly involved in dumping the body, were also arrested.
Muskan's mother was arrested for allegedly instigating Jamal and others to kill Naveen and police found she was in the room when the murder took place.
Police have recovered the knife used in the crime and the blood stained clothes.