A Murder in Baghpat

In August last year, as 22-year old Khushbu sat next to her elder brother Gaurav’s dead body in the courtyard of her freshly painted house in Baghpat’s Silvernagar, she did not shed a tear. Not even when villagers urged her to vent her emotion. Eight months later, she expressed herself with a countrymade pistol, four bullets and a cold-blooded murder.

On April 23, Khushbu, her mother Mohan and her father Anand were arrested by Baghpat police from Silvernagar for the alleged murder of their relative Neetu, 40. Only a wall separated the houses of both families.

Clad in a red salwar suit, a yellow dupatta, Khushbu stood next to her parents in the police station at the time of the arrest. She told the reporters, “This is the beginning.” According to the police, Khushbu showed no remorse while confessing to her crime and talked about a “list” of “six people” who were on her target, once she gets released from jail.

According to former Superintendent of Police (Baghpat) Shailesh Kumar Pandey, the large landowning family has been split for many years over land.

In 2017, Khusbhu’s brother, Ankit, 20, committed suicide. While no FIR was filed in this case, her family felt that Pawan and Neetu — the boy’s uncles and Anand’s cousins — had driven him to the brink. Ankit was the youngest of the three siblings.

In August 2018, Gaurav was found dead in one of their own farms in Silvernagar with his throat slit. An FIR was filed in Binauli police station against Neetu’s nephew Parul and Anuj, both in their 20s. “Parul confessed to killing Gaurav. He believed that Anand held him responsible for Ankit’s death and that Gaurav would come after him. To protect himself, he killed Gaurav first,” says Ravindra Yadav, station house officer, Binauli.

Having lost both sons, parents Anand and Mohan, with their daughter Khushbu, had nothing but revenge on their mind.

Neighbours remember Mohan placing Gaurav’s body in front of Khushbu, and asking her, “They have done this to your brother, what will you do?” “From that point, we realised that things have taken a turn for the worse,” says neighbour Nikhil, 22.

After Gaurav’s murder, Neetu’s family shifted to Banaut, fearing for their life from their relatives next door. Always quiet and withdrawn, Khushbu, who was very close to her brothers, became even more reticent. Neighbours claimed she became irregular in attending college and cut down on almost all social interactions.

Soon, rumours began circulating about Khushbu being spotted with a weapon or training in the nearby forests. In a region known for its shooting ranges, it took no time for Mohan to procure a country-made pistol, say locals. “She would often be seen with the pistol outside Neetu’s house,” says Nikhil.

Seventy-year-old Madan Singh’s house is right opposite Rana Electrical Store inside Silvernagar village. On the morning of April 20, most of his family members had gone to work on their farms.

Neetu had returned to the village to measure the dimensions of a new door for his house. Around 8 am, news reached Khusbu and Mohan. “I was outside my house when Mohan and Khushbu approached Neetu. Initially, he thought that the duo would approach him for a conversation. Neetu is well-built and tall and he would have tried to defend himself. But he did not expect what was going to happen next,” says Singh, an eyewitness in the case.

As Neetu stood outside the shop, both Mohan and Khushbu drew closer. Mohan held him back to restrict his movement with an axe-like structure. A frantic, terrified Neetu tried to reason with the two women. Khushbu stood blank-faced, held her gun up and fired a bullet to the chest. Neetu fell to the ground and slipped into the drain.

Khushbu stood over the body as she fired three more bullets. The first bullet had ensured Neetu’s death, the other three were retribution.

“Khushbu then lifted her gun as other people looked on and said, ‘Does anyone want to testify?’ In my entire life, I have never seen something like this,” says Madan. “People didn’t touch his body for some time out of fear,” he continued.

“Usually, we find women as co-conspirators in the murder of a person. But a young woman deciding to avenge her brother’s death by shooting an accused herself is rarely heard of,” says Kumar Ranvijay Singh, Additional SP, Baghpat.

According to the police, the family confessed to the murder and admitted it was revenge for the deaths of the two boys. Neetu’s wife Guddi and two sons have shifted to a place in Banaut out of fear. “Even though she is in jail, the fear still remains. Our family is under constant threat. Two of their family members are still out. Anything can happen to us. We don’t want revenge, we just want to live,” says Guddi.