Murder, not suicide: Old couple killed by massage woman's son in Delhi
Somreet Bhattacharya, Sidharth Bhardwaj | TNN | Updated: Jan 29, 2019, 02:01 IST
Sarla Khaneja (L), Virender Kumar KhanejaNEW DELHI: The mysterious deaths of an elderly couple at Mount Kailash Apartment in south Delhi's Kailash Colony, initially presumed to be suicide, took a dramatic turn on Monday when police said the two were murdered by the juvenile son of their massage woman, who had planned the crime for money.
The accused woman allegedly kept visiting the apartment for nearly a week after the murder to work at other houses
The juvenile had strangled the couple and stayed overnight with the bodies before leaving the flat with Rs 8.9 lakh in cash and some jewellery, police said. The woman and her son have been arrested and the loot recovered from them.
Police had discovered the decomposing bodies of Virender Kumar Khaneja, 78, and Sarla Khaneja, 72, in the bedroom of their ninth-floor flat on Saturday morning (January 26), after being alerted by a visiting relative who got no response to his calls and knocks.
Cops said the couple were murdered on January 18, after the 50-year-old masseuse (name withheld since her son is a minor) went to the flat for giving a massage to Sarla, during which she helped her son slip into the house around noon and hid him in the three-bed room apartment.
Entry to the ninth floor of Mount Kailash Apartment was easy for the killer teen as both he and his mother were familiar faces. The guards used to let him pass without any questions. Even though a policeman visited the Khanejas every fortnight, no inquiries were made about the part-time masseuse. The mother-son duo took advantage of this.
After the murder, the teen stayed in the apartment for 24 hours without being noticed. The role of the security guard is being probed as he didn’t raise any suspicions when the woman left the apartment without her son. A probe is on to check if visitors were made to sign their entry and exit. Police admit this would have not only helped in flagging the presence of the teen inside the apartment, but also helped zero in on the suspects.
Shockingly, the woman allegedly kept visiting the apartment for nearly a week after the murder to work at other houses. She would return from the Khanejas after ringing their doorbell. The Khanejas were registered with Delhi Police’s senior citizens cell. However, despite being murdered on January 18, police came to know about it a week later after being alerted by a relative. Amit Khaneja, the elderly couple’s son settled in the US, kept waiting for a birthday call from his parents on January 24. When he didn’t get the call, he contacted his relatives in Gurgaon to check on his parents. When the relative failed to contact them, he called the police.
The beat cops had met the couple on January 15 and got their water problem resolved. They were supposed to visit the couple once a week, but couldn’t do so.
Though the residents’ welfare association has claimed that all domestic helps were old hands and their identities were verified, police are yet to ascertain this. They are still looking for the verification records of the woman. “It’s unbelievable that someone we had been seeing everyday could be involved in such a gruesome murder. Her son would often roam around in the courtyard conversing with the guards. No one ever thought that he would turn out to be a killer,” said one of Khaneja’s neighbours. Adomestic help, who had earlier worked at the Khanejas, said that the couple had employed three people for cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. Even they didn’t raise an alarm after seeing the house locked or when the couple didn’t respond to their calls.
After killing woman, juvenile lay in wait for her husband to return
Police said the juvenile killer of the elderly couple at south Delhi's Kailash Colony had hid in the apartment for over two hours after being smuggled in by his mother, who had come to give the senior woman a massage.
Around 2.30pm, after the woman's husband, Virender Kumar Khaneja, left for some work, the teenager emerged from his hiding place. He held the woman, Sarla, by her throat and tied her hands. He repeatedly thrashed her while asking her about valuables in the house, police said.
When she claimed that only her husband knew where cash and jewellery were kept, the juvenile hit her on the head with a heavy object, strangled her and then smothered her with a pillow, police said. He then dragged the body to the corner bedroom and left it there.
The boy then went around the house looking for keys to the almirahs. Around 8.30pm, Khaneja returned and entered the house with a spare key. According to the police, the juvenile pushed the septuagenarian on to a sofa and demanded that he hand over the keys to the locker. Khaneja gave him the keys and even showed him the safe. The juvenile emptied the locker and then strangled elderly man, police said.
The juvenile dragged Khaneja to the same bedroom and left the body on the bed. He then poured some phenyl and threw some napthalene balls around to mask the foul smell.
The juvenile stayed in the apartment through the night looking for other valuables and left around 11.30 the next morning.
He told the cops that he had stayed back to avoid being confronted by the security guards, who may have questioned his presence at the apartment complex so late in the evening.
DCP (south-east) Chinmoy Biswal said during the inquiry into the mysterious deaths, cops had started questioning the household helps of the Khanejas. While scanning the CCTV footages from the apartment, it was found that the woman used to visit the apartment twice or thrice in a week for massage services. She was questioned along with the other household helps during which her versions were found to be contradictory
“She had initially tried to mislead the investigators and blame it on others, but was confronted with the footage of the teenager in a black cap leaving the apartment. Following this, she broke down and confessed to have hatched the murder plan,” said DCP Biswal.
The juvenile was detained from his house in Sangam Vihar and questioned during which he admitted to the crime when confronted with his mother’s confession. Police have recovered the gold jewellery, cash, purse and cameras stolen from the Khaneja house.
During investigations, the juvenile said while leaving the flat, he had locked the wooden door of the apartment by pushing it shut and locked the iron door on the outside with keys he had taken from Khaneja. He said he had killed the couple since they had identified him.
The juvenile was known to most residents of the complex since he frequented the apartments with his mother. The woman said she had been giving massage services to residents of the complex for the past eight years and would visit on calls from residents.
A case of murder (302 IPC) has been registered at the Amar Colony police station. Police are also probing the role of the woman’s daughter, who was also trying to shield the juvenile. The autopsy of the elderly couple was conducted on Monday after an authorisation from their son, Amit, whose return from the US has been delayed due to bad weather in Florida.
The accused woman allegedly kept visiting the apartment for nearly a week after the murder to work at other houses
The juvenile had strangled the couple and stayed overnight with the bodies before leaving the flat with Rs 8.9 lakh in cash and some jewellery, police said. The woman and her son have been arrested and the loot recovered from them.
Police had discovered the decomposing bodies of Virender Kumar Khaneja, 78, and Sarla Khaneja, 72, in the bedroom of their ninth-floor flat on Saturday morning (January 26), after being alerted by a visiting relative who got no response to his calls and knocks.
Delhi: Old couple found dead, suicide pact suspected
The couple, Virender Kumar Khaneja, 78, and Sarla Khaneja, 72, were living on their own in the ninth floor apartment after their younger son died in 2017. Their elder son is a doctor in the US. Police said the couple appears to have died of poisoning. Their bodies were discovered after a relative came visiting on Saturday and dialled police after nobody opened the door.
Cops said the couple were murdered on January 18, after the 50-year-old masseuse (name withheld since her son is a minor) went to the flat for giving a massage to Sarla, during which she helped her son slip into the house around noon and hid him in the three-bed room apartment.
Entry to the ninth floor of Mount Kailash Apartment was easy for the killer teen as both he and his mother were familiar faces. The guards used to let him pass without any questions. Even though a policeman visited the Khanejas every fortnight, no inquiries were made about the part-time masseuse. The mother-son duo took advantage of this.
After the murder, the teen stayed in the apartment for 24 hours without being noticed. The role of the security guard is being probed as he didn’t raise any suspicions when the woman left the apartment without her son. A probe is on to check if visitors were made to sign their entry and exit. Police admit this would have not only helped in flagging the presence of the teen inside the apartment, but also helped zero in on the suspects.
Shockingly, the woman allegedly kept visiting the apartment for nearly a week after the murder to work at other houses. She would return from the Khanejas after ringing their doorbell. The Khanejas were registered with Delhi Police’s senior citizens cell. However, despite being murdered on January 18, police came to know about it a week later after being alerted by a relative. Amit Khaneja, the elderly couple’s son settled in the US, kept waiting for a birthday call from his parents on January 24. When he didn’t get the call, he contacted his relatives in Gurgaon to check on his parents. When the relative failed to contact them, he called the police.
The beat cops had met the couple on January 15 and got their water problem resolved. They were supposed to visit the couple once a week, but couldn’t do so.
Though the residents’ welfare association has claimed that all domestic helps were old hands and their identities were verified, police are yet to ascertain this. They are still looking for the verification records of the woman. “It’s unbelievable that someone we had been seeing everyday could be involved in such a gruesome murder. Her son would often roam around in the courtyard conversing with the guards. No one ever thought that he would turn out to be a killer,” said one of Khaneja’s neighbours. Adomestic help, who had earlier worked at the Khanejas, said that the couple had employed three people for cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. Even they didn’t raise an alarm after seeing the house locked or when the couple didn’t respond to their calls.
After killing woman, juvenile lay in wait for her husband to return
Police said the juvenile killer of the elderly couple at south Delhi's Kailash Colony had hid in the apartment for over two hours after being smuggled in by his mother, who had come to give the senior woman a massage.
Around 2.30pm, after the woman's husband, Virender Kumar Khaneja, left for some work, the teenager emerged from his hiding place. He held the woman, Sarla, by her throat and tied her hands. He repeatedly thrashed her while asking her about valuables in the house, police said.
When she claimed that only her husband knew where cash and jewellery were kept, the juvenile hit her on the head with a heavy object, strangled her and then smothered her with a pillow, police said. He then dragged the body to the corner bedroom and left it there.
The boy then went around the house looking for keys to the almirahs. Around 8.30pm, Khaneja returned and entered the house with a spare key. According to the police, the juvenile pushed the septuagenarian on to a sofa and demanded that he hand over the keys to the locker. Khaneja gave him the keys and even showed him the safe. The juvenile emptied the locker and then strangled elderly man, police said.
The juvenile dragged Khaneja to the same bedroom and left the body on the bed. He then poured some phenyl and threw some napthalene balls around to mask the foul smell.
The juvenile stayed in the apartment through the night looking for other valuables and left around 11.30 the next morning.
He told the cops that he had stayed back to avoid being confronted by the security guards, who may have questioned his presence at the apartment complex so late in the evening.
DCP (south-east) Chinmoy Biswal said during the inquiry into the mysterious deaths, cops had started questioning the household helps of the Khanejas. While scanning the CCTV footages from the apartment, it was found that the woman used to visit the apartment twice or thrice in a week for massage services. She was questioned along with the other household helps during which her versions were found to be contradictory
“She had initially tried to mislead the investigators and blame it on others, but was confronted with the footage of the teenager in a black cap leaving the apartment. Following this, she broke down and confessed to have hatched the murder plan,” said DCP Biswal.
The juvenile was detained from his house in Sangam Vihar and questioned during which he admitted to the crime when confronted with his mother’s confession. Police have recovered the gold jewellery, cash, purse and cameras stolen from the Khaneja house.
During investigations, the juvenile said while leaving the flat, he had locked the wooden door of the apartment by pushing it shut and locked the iron door on the outside with keys he had taken from Khaneja. He said he had killed the couple since they had identified him.
The juvenile was known to most residents of the complex since he frequented the apartments with his mother. The woman said she had been giving massage services to residents of the complex for the past eight years and would visit on calls from residents.
A case of murder (302 IPC) has been registered at the Amar Colony police station. Police are also probing the role of the woman’s daughter, who was also trying to shield the juvenile. The autopsy of the elderly couple was conducted on Monday after an authorisation from their son, Amit, whose return from the US has been delayed due to bad weather in Florida.
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