A day after five members of a family, including three children, were found murdered at their house in north-east Delhi’s Bhajanpura, the Delhi police on Thursday arrested a relative for allegedly committing the murders over a “monetary dispute”.
On Wednesday, decomposed bodies of e-rickshaw driver Shambhu Chaudhary (43), his wife Sunita (37) and their children Shivam (17), Sachin (14) and Komal (12) were found at their rented house in Bhajanpura.
Joint CP (Eastern Range) Alok Kumar said that the accused has been identified as Prabhu Nath (26), who is a relative of the family and lives in the same area.
According to the police, they inquired about the three children in their schools and it was revealed that they had been absent since February 3. The call details of Shambhu were analysed and it was found that his mobile phone was active till February 3 evening.
The CCTV footage of the day were checked and in one of the cameras, the accused was caught entering the house of the deceased around 3.30 p.m., the police said. Thereafter, he was apprehended and during interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime.
Victim lent money
“Nath said he works at a coaching institute in Laxmi Nagar and also works as an agent for some money lender. He had borrowed ₹30,000 from Shambhu and had lent out the same in the market for earn some interest on the amount,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) Ved Prakash Surya said.
On the day of the incident, Nath had called Shambhu at 3.36 p.m. and asked him to come to Laxmi Nagar. When Shambhu went to Laxmi Nagar, the accused went to his house where Sunita was alone. An altercation ensued between the two over returning the money, Mr. Surya said.
Furious, the accused throttled Sunita and hit her on the head with an iron rod. Thereafter, when Komal returned home from tuition, the accused killed her in the same manner. Nath killed Shivam and Sachin in the evening after they returned from school, the DCP added.
He committed the four murders in four hours, the police said. Nath then locked the house from outside and went to meet Shambhu. Both of them consumed liquor somewhere in Bhajanpura and later returned to Shambhu’s house where Nath attacked him on his head with the same iron rod, Mr. Surya said.
Nath then left the house after locking it from outside. The key of the house has been recovered from his possession, the police said, adding that the investigation is still on and they are yet to recover the weapon of offence.
A police officer said that during investigation, it was revealed that the accused used to visit Shambhu’s house in his absence. He was staying in the same area even after committing the crime, the officer added.
The five bodies were found in a locked house in gali number 10 in Bhajanpura on Wednesday after the police were informed by neighbours about a “foul smell” emanating from the house.
“The police reached the spot and broke open the door of the house and found the five bodies in badly decomposed state,” Mr. Surya said.
The bodies were shifted to GTB Hospital and a case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC was registered at Bhajanpura police station. The bodies were putrefied and it seemed that the murder had been committed around a week ago, the DCP said.