NEW DELHI: Police averted the murder of two senior citizens in the nick of time, arresting their male nurse while he was on his way to eliminate them early on Thursday.
The accused, Aakash Patel (24), suspected that the couple, aged 92 and 85, had valuables stored in their south Delhi house where they stay alone. He contacted an arms supplier in west UP and bought a pistol from him. However, the supplier was on Delhi Police’s radar, and the cops overheard the conversation between the two. ACP Govind Sharma laid a trap in Khanpur and Patel, a resident of Gwalior, walked into it. The pistol and four cartridges were found on him.
The couple’s son and a daughter live abroad, while their second daughter is based in another state. Cops have withheld the couple’s name and the location of their house because of safety reasons.
ACP Govind Sharma received information about the suspect planning the dacoity-cum-murder after which a team led by inspectors
Sanjay Gupta and Rajesh Kumar was formed. The accused was apprehended from Khanpur, DCP (special cell) Pramod Kushwaha said.
During interrogation, Patel disclosed that he had pursued a diploma in nursing midwifery from Grantham Nursing College, Gwalior in 2016. After that, he worked in two hospitals for a brief period. However, due to low salary, he left the job and shifted to Delhi. He was hired by the couple through a company based in Khanpur.
Patel had been working at the couple’s house since three months. “He observed that the elderly couple were financially well-off and had a large amount of cash and jewellery stashed in the house. He also noticed that at one place in the house, the design and colour of one of the tiles was different from others and the old lady used to give special attention to this area and always worshipped there,” Kushwaha added. From this behaviour, he suspected that valuables may have been stashed there.
So he made a plan to commit loot in the house after eliminating the couple. For executing the dacoity, he discussed the plan with his brother-in-law who is an arms supplier in UP’s Etawah. He bought the weapon and also asked him to arrange for a floor-cutter. The brother-in-law, who runs his own gang, agreed and advised him to quit the job first as police would first suspect the nurse after the incident. Police are conducting raids to nab the other members of this gang.
Representative image.