77-year-old man committed another murder in Gurugram house before killing wife, say police

GURUGRAM: On October 20, 77-year-old Harnek Singh Dhillon was rushed to hospital by a police team that found him bleeding from a slit wrist next to his dead wife in their DLF 2 house. While Dhillon received medical attention and began to recover, police discovered he had murder his wife Gurmel (74) by slitting her throat. The apparent 'suicide pact' had come a week after the wife of a long-time acquaintance had come to the Dhillon house looking for her husband, who had suddenly gone missing. Neighbours of the Dhillons, meanwhile, reported hearing an altercation in the house one night and wondered if it had anything to do with the ‘suicide pact’.



On Thursday, adding yet another twist to the investigation, police said there was. The missing man, Jaskaran (51), had been murdered by Dhillon, police said.

Jaskaran had been seen on CCTV cameras entering Dhillon's house on October 14 but not leaving, which is how the police began probing the possibility of a second murder. Dhillon, who was arrested on Wednesday after his release from hospital, has already been charged with murder for killing Gurmel. Police said he would now be charged with two murders.

Jaskaran, a former flour mill owner, was allegedly embroiled in a dispute with Dhillon over a Rs 40 lakh loan he had taken.

Police are also looking for an accomplice of Dhillon's who, they claimed, was also involved in the murder of Jaskaran whose body was allegedly chopped, stuffed into two bags and dumped somewhere. Police have not found Jaskaran's body yet.

Police said Dhillon murdered Jaskaran on October 14 at his house. Investigators will take him to the place where he is believed to have disposed of the body, said a senior police officer.

Jaskaran’s wife Manjeet Kaur, a resident of Saraswati Vihar, had told police when her husband did not return home on October 14, she had gone to Dhillon’s house the next day, looking for him.

According to Kaur, Dhillon had admitted her husband had visited them around 2.15pm.

Later, a police team, along with Kaur, visited Dhillon’s home on October 16, but didn’t find anything suspicious. On the basis of a complaint filed by a family member of Jaskaran, an FIR was registered on October 16 at Sector 29 police station.

Fearing he could be caught, Dhillon allegedly entered into a ‘suicide pact’ with his wife on October 19 but Gurmel retracted later. On October 20, Dhillon decided to kill her and slit her throat while she was sleeping. After murdering his wife, Dhillon slashed his wrist and called up one of his relatives. Gurmel was found dead on a blood-soaked bed with her throat slit, when a police team reached their DLF 2 home. An autopsy conducted on Monday had confirmed she was murdered.

Dhillon had criminal cases registered against him earlier. Police said Dhillon used to run a paying guest (PG) facility. He had taken a building in DLF 2 on rent in 2010 but had to shut it later.

He later converted two bedrooms in home into a PG facility. Dhillon was produced before a local court on Thursday. He was sent to two-day police custody. Police had sought his four-day police custody but considering his age, the court granted only two-day custody.

“We will produce him again before court after two days, and seek extension of his police custody,” said inspector Vishnu, SHO of DLF 2.