How internet history exposed Delhi woman who killed her husband over sexual dissatisfaction

A 29-year-old woman allegedly murdered her husband and initially tried to stage it as a suicide on Sunday evening in Delhi’s Nihal Vihar area. The case took a shocking turn due to the motives involved—sexual dissatisfaction and an affair with her husband’s cousin. The woman, identified as Farzana Khan, allegedly told police she killed her husband, Mohammed Shahid alias Irfan, because she was unhappy in the relationship. She claimed he failed to satisfy her sexually and that she was involved in an affair with his cousin. She also said Shahid was under heavy debt due to online gambling.

A senior police officer elaborated on Farzana’s confession: “She said she was unhappy in the marriage — both with their physical relationship and with the financial strain caused by his gambling. She also admitted to having an affair with her husband’s cousin, who lives in Bareilly.”

After the murder, which Farzana initially tried to present as suicide, suspicions arose when police checked her phone and found disturbing internet searches related to killing methods. Though the couple lived in Delhi, they were originally from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

How the murder came to light

Shahid was declared brought dead at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital on Sunday evening by his brother, who also informed the police. He claimed Farzana told him that Shahid had taken his own life due to gambling debts.

However, police began to question the suicide theory after noticing three stab wounds on Shahid’s body. “The wife told us he stabbed himself, as he was under stress due to gambling losses,” said the officer.

A postmortem conducted on Monday confirmed it was a case of murder.

Suspicious search history

“The doctors informed us that the wounds were inconsistent with suicide. One of them was fatal and could not have been self-inflicted,” the officer said. This prompted police to investigate further, leading them to Farzana’s phone.

“We found internet search history related to ‘ways of killing someone using sleeping pills (sulphas), and how to delete chat histories’,” the officer revealed. “This further pointed to pre-meditation.”

When questioned again, Farzana reportedly failed to maintain her false narrative. She broke down and confessed, citing her unhappiness in the marriage, financial stress, and an extramarital affair as the reasons.

She was arrested on Tuesday and further investigation is ongoing, police said.