In a gruesome murder in Azamgarh district, an elderly couple were brutally hacked to death sometime late Sunday night.

The blood-soaked bodies of the couple were recovered on Monday morning. The local police along with senior officers reached the spot and sent the bodies for post-mortem. Inspector General of Police, Azamgarh Range, Akhilesh Kumar, and Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya also visited the spot.

The family members claimed that the victims were killed during robbery and even their hands and the mother’s legs were chopped off to take away the ornaments.

The severed body parts have been recovered by the police. The police, however, suspect property dispute behind the killing.

Reports said that Vishwanath (75) and his wife Santari (73) of Kayamuddin Patti Parsahi village under Nizamabad police station, were sleeping alone in the house.  They were attacked and killed with sharp-edged weapons by the assailants who entered the house late on Sunday night.

In the morning, the villagers were stunned to see their bodies lying in pools of blood. The villagers immediately informed the police about the double-murder and the local police reached the spot with the dog squad and forensic teams.

Ram Lakhan Sonkar, a resident of Katghar Sadar under Sidhari police station, claimed that he was the youngest son of Vishwanath among three brothers. According to Sonkar, his father had taken three bighas of land in Qayamuddin Patti Parsahi village under Nizamabad police station 12 years back and his parents used to live there in a single room. Sonkar claimed that he used to visit the home of his parents 2-3 times a week to meet them. On Saturday, he went to water the paddy nursery and his father asked him to come again on Monday to arrange flour and other edible items.

He said that the assailants entered his father’s house and besides looting cash and ornaments, also chopped off the hands of his parents to take away gold and silver rings worn by them. He said not only this, the miscreants also took away the silver anklet by cutting off his mother’s leg. He said his father had a gold chain around his neck which was also taken.

Superintendent of Police Anurag Vatsa said that besides loot, the case was being probed from every angle.

Meanwhile in Bulandshahr, a youth allegedly got his father killed over a property share dispute.

According to the police, the 32-year-old accused, Narendra Singh, hired a contract killer for Rs 2.5 lakh to kill Bholi Singh (65).

Bulandshahr’s Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said the incident took place on the intervening night of June 22 and 23.

“After receiving information that a man had been shot at by some unidentified persons, a police team rushed to the spot and took the victim to a hospital where he was pronounced dead,” Kumar said.

“During the investigation, it came to light that Narendra was upset with his father as the latter sold out a piece of land but did not give him any share. He then contacted a man from his village, identified as Lokesh Kumar, to hire a contract killer from Delhi, Abhishek Kumar,” the SSP said, adding that Narendra and Abhishek were arrested on Monday while Lokesh was absconding.