The incident took place at Shakurpur. The accused was arrested. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna) A 43-year-old man allegedly killed his wife and two brothers-in-law over a family dispute at his home in Northwest Delhi’s Shakurpur Sunday night. Police said the accused, Hitendra, has been arrested.
According to police, he was angry after the family confronted him over his behaviour towards his wife. Around 11.20 pm, he allegedly gunned down his wife Seema (39) and her brothers Surendra (36) and Vijay (33). Vijay’s wife, Babita, was also shot in the leg while his mother-in-law, Chandrakala, and another relative managed to escape. Hitendra’s mother and his two children, aged 19 and 15, witnessed the firing.
Police said the family lives on the fourth floor of a building owned by the accused. The other rooms have been rented out to tenants and factory workers.
DCP (Northwest) Usha Rangnani said, “Around 11.25 pm, we received a call about the incident from locals. We reached the spot and found four persons injured at a house. They were immediately rushed to hospital.”
Seema and her two brothers were declared dead on arrival; they were shot in the head.
A senior police officer said, “We reached the spot and found a woman screaming ‘maar dala’. We thought an armed gang killed her children during a robbery attempt. Four personnel rushed upstairs with pistols. We found Hitendra standing in the hall… he didn’t resist. All the bodies were lying on the floor.”
The accused and his wife had been married for 21 years. According to police, Seema and her family were unhappy as Hitendra used to allegedly beat her every day. Hitendra and his family were irked because Seema told her brothers about his behaviour and they rebuked him.
In the FIR lodged based on Chandrakala’s complaint, she alleged that they wanted to confront Hitendra but got into a fight as his friend was also present.
“Vijay told Hitendra that it’s not right for Lalit to interfere in family issues… A fight broke out between my sons, and Hitendra, his sons and Lalit. We tried to stop them. Hitendra threatened to kill us. He went to his room, got his revolver and fired at us with an intent to kill…,” she alleged.
Police said Hitendra had a licensed revolver and they are yet to verify the licence number.
Tenants in the building said they were frightened on hearing gunshots. Payal Singh, a neighbour, said, “I was cooking when I heard gunshots… My brothers rushed to see what was happening and said they saw blood. I was scared and locked myself in my room. I thought they would kill me if I stepped out too.”
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