New Delhi: A 50-year-old driver was arrested for allegedly strangling to death his employer’s domestic help with a gear wire and dumping her body in a field in Noida, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Jitender alias Goldy, claimed he was in a relationship with the 50-year-old victim, but they had fallen out. He told investigators that their soured relationship had driven him to kill her, they said.

The murder came to light after their employer, a resident of Panchsheel Park in Hauz Khas, filed a complaint with the police on September 26 stating that the domestic help had gone missing with some cash, the police said. She had been working for the complainant for the last 33 years and hailed from Jharkhand, they said.

When police attempted to contact the help, her phone was found switched off, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan said. The officer said that following this, an FIR was registered and an investigation was launched.

The police questioned everyone who had visited the complainant’s house. CCTV footage from the surrounding area was reviewed, and attention soon turned to Jitender, a part-time driver employed by the family, the DCP said. He worked three days a week, driving the complainant’s 95-year-old aunt to a senior citizens’ club. On the day the maid disappeared, Jitender had left the club earlier than usual, raising suspicion, the officer said.

Further background checks revealed that Jitender had not been to his second employer’s residence on the same day. A search was initiated, and he was eventually located, police said. “Although he initially provided false information, during sustained interrogation he confessed to killing the domestic help with an accomplice and dumping her body in Noida,” DCP Ankit Chauhan said.

Based on his confession, the police recovered the body that had been stuffed in a sack from an abandoned field. It also retrieved the gear wire used in the crime. Jitender told the investigators he disposed of the body outside Delhi to evade getting caught, the police said. The Noida police is overseeing the postmortem process.