Varanasi: After killing his wife, two sons and a daughter at his Bhadaini residence on Monday night, a country liquor trader, Rajendra Gupta was found dead in an under-construction building in Sadarpur village under the Rohania police station area on Tuesday afternoon.
During the initial police investigation, it also came to light that since 1997, Gupta has also murdered his father, brother, sister-in-law and a security guard, and he had bitter relations with his wife. He was in contact with an occultist who told Gupta that his wife was a hurdle in his progress.
After taking stock of the site at Bhadaini under the limits of Bhelupur police station, DCP Kashi Zone Gaurav Banswal said that all aspects, including family and property disputes, are being included in the police investigation into the killings. It is also being investigated whether Gupta committed suicide after killing his family or was murdered by someone else, said the DCP. Police were collecting the criminal history of Gupta with the details of when and how he came out of jail. Besides, it is also being checked whether he had any licensed arms, said the DCP.
Aged around 50, Gupta owned a building comprising over 50 rooms in the Bhadaini area. He lived in the same building with his wife Neetu (45), their daughter Gaurangi (16) and sons Navnendra (25) and Suvendra (15), while over 20 tenants also resided in different rooms of the building.
However, none of the tenants noticed the sound of firing. On Tuesday morning, the incident came to light when nobody opened the doors of the portion of the building in which Gupta's family lived. When a woman domestic help opened the doors of the house, she saw the bodies of Neetu, Gaurangi, Navnendra and Suvendra lying in a pool of blood, while Gupta was not present at home. After the police were alerted, a team from Bhelupur station reached there, and forensic experts and a dog squad were called.
The bodies of Gupta's wife and children were found in their bedrooms on the second floor of the building, in which a large number of tenants dwell on the ground and upper floors, said the DCP, who later visited Sadarpur village.
Commissioner of police Mohit Agrawal, district magistrate S Rajalingam, and many other senior officials also reached the site. Ambulances and other vehicles were arranged to send the bodies for postmortem examination. Gupta's elderly mother, who lived in a neighbouring room, was unable to speak much but hinted that she preferred living separately as he used to quarrel with his wife.
When the cops were busy investigating the matter at Bhadaini, Rohania police received an alert regarding a semi-nude body lying on a cot covered with a mosquito net in an under-construction building at Sadarpur village. On reaching the spot, the cops, led by ADCP Varuna Zone, T Sarvanan ascertained the identity of the deceased person as Rajendra Gupta. He suffered a bullet injury in the throat. The cops started an investigation to determine whether he committed suicide or was murdered.
During the initial investigation, it came to light that apart from the building where he lived, Gupta also owned more buildings and had a huge income not only from his tenants but also from the country liquor trade. His elder son Navnendra was employed in a multinational firm in Bengaluru, while Gupta's other children were studying in a public school. Navnendra came home on Diwali vacation and was to return to Bengaluru after the Chhath festival. He had purchased agricultural land in Sadarpur, and a building was also being constructed there.
Neighbours and other relatives informed the police about Gupta's involvement in the killing of his own father and a security guard in the past two decades. Gupta was in jail for a long time. They also divulged that he was in contact with an occultist, who misled him against his wife, with whom Gupta had bitter relations.