Shailza Dwivedi Murder: Major Nikhil Handa Sent to 14-Day Custody

On Thursday, the police had recovered the knife used by Handa in the alleged murder.

Shailza Dwivedi (L) was allegedly murdered by Major Nikhil Handa (R).

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Delhi's Patiala House Court on Friday, 29 June, sent Army Major Nikhil Handa to a judicial custody of 14 days for allegedly murdering his colleague’s wife Shailza Dwivedi, reported ANI.

On Thursday, the police recovered the knife used by Handa in the alleged murder.

The Delhi Police had earlier said that Handa was repeatedly giving them "misleading information".

On Wednesday, Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Delhi, had said the weapon the police possessed (earlier) was not the one Handa used to murder Dwivedi. "We have completed 90 percent of the work, and the truth will come out in the coming days," Kumar had told the press.

Kumar had said that Handa had met his brother after the incident and they travelled from CR Park to Akshardham in the former's car, PTI reported.

His brother told the police that Handa had said he was involved in a road accident and did not mention to him about the killing of the woman, the officer said.

Kumar said that they took Handa to a couple of places in Delhi and Meerut where he had claimed to have dumped the weapon used to slit the woman’s neck.

Police are also yet to recover a towel which Handa claimed he had burnt after using it to wipe the bloodstains of his car.

The 40-year-old Major was on 24 June arrested from his Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, residence.

The body of the victim, Shailza Dwivedi, an aspiring model, was found with her throat slit, near Brar Square in the Delhi Cantonment area on 23 June, Saturday, PTI reported.

Handa had reached Delhi on Saturday to meet Dwivedi. He had picked her up from the Delhi Cantonment area in his Honda City car, sources in the police told NDTV.

Handa allegedly slit Dwivedi’s throat before running her over with his car. The Army Major reportedly told the police that he ran his car over Dwivedi repeatedly to make her death appear like an accident.

However, the police in its statement on Wednesday once again cast a shadow of doubt over the accuracy of everything that Handa has confessed to.

Handa had reportedly fallen in love with Dwivedi during his posting in Dimapur, Nagaland, and had been pursuing her. Unable to handle rejection, police claimed, he murdered her in cold blood.

Dwivedi had married Major Amit Dwivedi in 2009. The couple has a six-year-old son. She was also one of the finalists on Mrs India Earth pageant in 2017.

Shailza’s Family Tries to Cope With Loss

In an interaction with The Hindu, Dwivedi's brother Sukaran Kalia said the memories of his childhood with his sister "keep flashing before his eyes".

Kalia also said Dwivedi's 6-year-old son has set an example by "holding himself betters than all of us." The boy is currently in Amritsar, with his father, and Shailza's family. The family said that Major Amit is broken.

“She wrote blogs about she was blessed to have a husband and child like this,” Kalia told The Hindu.