Army Major Allegedly Kills Colleague’s Wife: What We Know So Far

The accused was allegedly ‘in love’ with his colleague’s wife, police said.

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

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A 40-year-old Army Major, Nikhil Handa, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Sunday, 24 June, for allegedly killing a fellow officer's wife, a senior police officer told PTI.

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.

• Police sources said that Major Handa had reached Delhi on Saturday to meet Shailza, and had picked her up from Delhi Cantonment in his Honda City car. (NDTV)
• The woman's husband spotted Major Handa in the CCTV footage of the hospital, where his wife had gone for a physiotherapy session and went missing from there, and told the police that he suspected him. (PTI)
• Handa allegedly slit Shailza’s throat before running her over with his car. (India Today)
• Handa reportedly told police that he ran his car over Shailza three times in an attempt to make her death appear like an accident. (The Indian Express)
• The murder appeared to be pre-meditated, police said based on the discovery of two knives in Handa’s possession at the time. (TOI)
• Police examined the call records of Handa’s mobile that confirmed his presence near the crime scene. (Hindustan Times)
• Source-based information alleged that Handa called a female friend and informed her that he had killed Shailza. (India Today)
• Police also reportedly recovered Shailza’s mobile phone from near Handa’s residence, but could not find her SIM card. (India Today)
• Delhi Police went over 200 CCTV cameras and searched almost 500 guest houses in Meerut to zero in on Handa’s location. (Hindustan Times)
• Police also recovered toll plaza tokens and CCTV footage that reportedly show Handa travelled from Delhi to Meerut. (India Today)
• The police started looking for Handa and found that he was in touch with a couple of friends and was hiding at the Officers' Mess in Meerut Cantonment. (PTI)
• Handa called his brother after allegedly committing the murder, and borrowed Rs 20,000 from him. (TOI)
• A Delhi Police team reached Meerut and nabbed Major Handa when he was trying to escape in his silver-coloured car, officials said.

• Major Handa, who is married with two kids, knew the woman and her husband since 2015, when they both were posted in Nagaland, DCP, Delhi (West) said. (PTI)
• Handa had reportedly fallen in love with Shailza during his posting in Dimapur, Nagaland, and had been pursuing her. Unable to handle rejection, police claimed, he murdered her in cold blood. (TOI)
• Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Kumar said that the accused, Major Nikhil Handa, was "obsessed" with the victim, Shailza, and wanted to marry her. (PTI)
• Over 3,000 phone calls were reportedly made by Major Handa to Shailza Dwivedi from 1 January, 2018. (India Today)
• Call records showed that Shailza had begun rejecting Handa’s calls. (TOI)
• Police discovered two phones in Handa’s possession, and said that Handa had been using a fake social media account to talk to at least two other women online, since as far back as 2015. (The Indian Express)
• Police also said that Handa had established contact with Shailza using the fake account in 2015, and revealed his true identity to her six months later. (The Indian Express)
• Another police officer added that the victim and the suspect were having an affair. (PTI)
• Shailza’s husband, Major Dwivedi once caught the two during a video call. "He confronted his wife and Nikhil and warned him to not come close to his wife and his house," police said on Sunday, 24 June. (NDTV)

Nikhil Handa was remanded to four days in police custody by the Patiala House Court on 25 June.

Who Was Shailza Dwivedi?

Shailza was an aspiring model. She 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.

She held an M.Tech in Urban Planning, Masters in Geography and Bachelors in Travel and Tourism Management from Guru Nanak Dev University.

A native of Amritsar, Shailza worked as a lecturer for five years, and later worked with an NGO called “Catch and Care”.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times, The Times of India, NDTV, India TV, and PTI)