New Delhi, Apr 22 (IANS): The Crime Branch of Delhi Police, which is probing the alleged murder of late Congress leader N.D. Tiwari's son Rohit Shekhar, said on Sunday that Shekhar's wife, Apoorva Tiwari, and a domestic help who works as a driver are the prime suspects in the case.

Shekhar was found dead on April 16 under mysterious circumstances. He was brought to the Max Hospital in Saket at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday in an ambulance where doctors declared him brought dead.

"The Crime Branch team reached Shekhar's residence in Defence Colony at 7.30 a.m. on Sunday and separately interrogated Apoorva and Akhilesh, the driver, for three hours.

"When their statements were recorded, the two failed to give satisfactory answers to certain questions. They are our prime suspects as they could have hatched the entire conspiracy," a police officer said.

"When the incident happened on April 16, only Apoorva and Akhilesh were present on the first floor. The evidences indicate that Shekhar was murdered for property," the officer added.

During investigation it was found that the relation between Shekhar and his wife Apoorva was strained ever since their marriage in 2017. The two had met through a matrimonial site.

"The situation turned so bad that Shekhar and Apoorva were living separately in the same house. They frequently fought with each other," the police officer said.

Ujjwala Sharma, Shekhar's mother, said: "Apoorva had an affair with someone before getting married to Shekhar. Her family is money-minded and has always had an eye on our property. They wanted to grab the Defence Colony property from my sons Shekhar and Sidharth. Our house is close to the Supreme Court where Apoorva went for practice.

"I would disclose everything after the condolence meeting. Rajeev, who is our relative and had been the OSD to my husband N.D. Tiwari, has been in our service for the last 40 years. Apoorva used to hate Rajeev's wife because Sidharth wanted to give a share of his property to Rajeev's son."

"The call record details of Apoorva and her family can solve my son's murder mystery," she added.

"We have scanned 35 phone numbers, including that of Shekhar, Apoorva and her family members, Ujjwala, Sidharth, his wife, another family member Rajiv and domestic helps Golu and Akhilesh. It appears that no external person was involved in the case.

"As per the autopsy report, Shekhar was killed between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on April 16, but his mobile phone was used after that," the officer said.