LUDHIANA: A day after an elderly woman was attacked and fatally injured in her house in the Company Bagh area, Tibba police arrested her daughter-in-law and two other accomplices for her murder.
Surjeet Kaur (73) was brutally attacked in her house on Monday afternoon, following which she had died while being rushed to PGI. After the incident, her daughter-in-law Jyoti had given contradictory versions about her injuries. Initially, she claimed her mother-in-law slipped from the stairs, and later claimed she was attacked by someone in the house, while Jyoti was in the bathroom. Finding too many loopholes in her narration, and after initial investigations, cops found that she — along with her neighbour friend Barkha and another acquaintance Rajeev Kashyap — had hatched a plan to kill Kaur.
Police said Surjeet Kaur, whose husband had died a few years ago, used to live with her son Manjeet Singh, a driver, and his family. Manjeet’s wife Jyoti nursed a grudge against her mother-in-law, who used to scold her and keep a watch on her — being suspicious of her character — police said, quoting Jyoti. Jyoti had very close relations with her neighbour Barkha, who knew about their differences. The duo planned to kill Surjit with the help of Barkha’s close friend Rajveer alias Raju.
Police, meanwhile, added that it was still being probed on what terms had Rajveer agreed to eliminate Surjeet. Police said on the day Surjeet was attacked, she was alone in the house, as Jyoti’s two daughters had gone to school, and her husband along with their son had gone out for some work. At around 2pm, Jyoti had called Barkha and Rajveer home to eliminate her mother-in-law. Rajveer came to Jyoti’s place on his Activa and had parked it at a safe distance away from her house. He had also bought a sharp-edged weapon from a tyre repair shop on the way, with which he later attacked Surjeet. During questioning, Jyoti disclosed Rajveer had asked the duo to stand outside the house. He had hit Surjeet multiple times with the weapon, inflicting injuries on her head and face, before running away.
After Rajveer fled, Jyoti raised an alarm and concocted a story that Surjeet had fallen from the stairs, following which a woman in the neighbourhood, Manjeet Kaur, reached the spot. Police said seeing Surjeet Kaur’s critical condition, Manjeet had asked Jyoti to give her the contact number of her husband Manjeet, to inform him. However, Jyoti dilly-dallied, and it was her daughter who gave her the phone number after she came back from school. When her husband reached home, he took Surjeet to local hospitals. He was asked to rush her to PGI Chandigarh, but Surjeet succumbed to her injuries on the way.
Cops were informed about the incident by Jyoti’s husband. Soon, a team led by SHO Tibba police station, inspector Daleep Bedi, reached the spot and started investigations. Initially, Jyoti tried to fabricate a story, claiming she was bathing when some unidentified person attacked her mother-in-law. But when cops became suspicious and grilled her, she broke down and spilled the beans.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP-4) Rajveer Singh said the trio were arrested and booked under sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. While Jyoti and Barkha were arrested from their homes in Company Bagh, Rajveer was arrested from near a reputed private hospital on Brown Road. Cops have not ruled out the possibility of Rajveer having been offered money to kill Kaur.
Police said the call details of Jyoti indicated she had called Barkha’s and Rajveer’s number after the incident. They added that even as she claimed she was bathing when her mother-in-law was injured, evidence suggested she was with her friend outside her house, keeping a watch as Rajveer went inside to kill her mother-in-law. Police said Surjeet had revealed the names of Jyoti, Barkha, and Rajveer to her neighbour Manjeet before she was shifted to hospital.
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