Triple suicide: Tragic tale of love, betrayal & financial struggles

A sordid tale of lovers-turned-murderers who ultimately fell victim to financial distress has emerged in the investigation of Delhi’s triple suicide case, where a woman and her two daughters ended their lives by consuming poison.

The bodies of 42-year-old Pooja and her two daughters aged 8 and 18 years were found in a decomposed state at their house in southeast Delhi’s Badarpur area on Wednesday.

While Pooja’s death was a tragedy, her life was no different. She was a convicted killer who had murdered her second husband Rishipal just to be with her lover named Aqil. The crime was aided by her own son Vishal Singh, who is still behind bars.

Around 25 years back, Pooja, who originally hailed from Bihar, had married one Santosh and had two kids — daughter Anjali and son Vishal Singh — from the wedlock. Happiness of a close-knit family was short-lived as Santosh abandoned her.

With two little kids and no one to provide shelter, Pooja then started living with one Rishipal Sharma in Pul Prahladpur area, but miseries were yet to end in her life. She had a marital discord and ultimately fell in love with another person named Aqil.

Fed up of strained relations with Rishipal, Pooja decided to eliminate him and hatched a conspiracy along with Aqil, Vishal Singh (son) and one Mehndi Hassain. They all successfully executed their plan and opened fire on Rishipal in May 2022 when he was returning home from Noida.

The cops solved the murder case, filed a chargesheet and all four were sent behind bars.

“The motive behind Rishipal’s murder was to grab his property and get rid of him as Pooja was in a relationship with Aqil,” DCP (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh told The Tribune.

Recently, Aqil and Pooja came out on bail and both started living in Molarband area of Badarpur on rent. Pooja’s daughter Anjali and adopted daughter Shijal were also staying with them.

Last month, Aqil went to his native place and reportedly died there on February 12. Pooja went to his native place and attended the last rituals. After Aqil’s death, Pooja sold her anklet and went to the Allahabad High Court in connection with her son’s bail.

Her life was not easy as Aqil was the sole breadwinner of her family. Deeply distressed with the circumstances, Pooja ultimately ended her life and also gave poison to her two daughters.