The first cousin of a 36-year-old resident of Tilak Vihar, who was found murdered along with her 18-year-old daughter on May 21 at her residence, has been arrested for the double murder.
Arrested accused Balvinder Singh, alias Babbu is the son of the victims’ maternal uncle. He had also attacked Jaspal with a hammer but the victim survived. However, he is still in an unconscious state and his statement has not been recorded as yet. According to the police, Balvinder was with his nephew Jaspal on the fateful day.
Balvinder (42), a carpenter by profession, committed the crime with the intention to rob the family as he was debt-ridden. “Balvinder had drinks and food with the family and slept there. He woke up early in the morning around 4 am and smothered the mother and daughter to death with a pillow. He then attacked Jaspal with a hammer several times and decamped with jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh. He regularly visited the police station and made inquiries on the status of the investigation to throw cops off scent,” a senior police official said.
“He also mourned their deaths. However, when we examined the call detail record, it was revealed he was at the place of occurrence of crime at that specific time,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (West district) Ranvir Singh. The crime weapon, hammer, blood-stained clothes, mobile phone have been recovered.
“later, the accused mortgaged the jewellery with Muthoot Finance and took a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh. The receipt of the company has also been recovered from his possession,” he added.
On May 21, the police team found Jasbir Kaur (36) and her daughter Prabhjot Kaur (14) dead at their residence. Her son Jaspal (17) crucially injured had sustained 10 hammer strikes on his head. He was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhayay (DDU) Hospital, where he is still recuperating.
“Police suspected the involvement of Balwinder as he had not participated in the cremation as well as condolence meetings. later, his call detail records were examined revealing he had visited the house couple of days before the murder. Balwinder was facing severe financial crunch. He had spent a lot of money on the treatment of his daughter and wife who were suffering from tuberculosis.
His daughter had expired in 2012 due to the ailment. He had taken a loan of Rs 1.5 lakhfrom one Amarjeet Singh to meet his crisis but he could not repay the loan,” he said.