In one of the most brutal crimes in recent times, an octogenarian woman and her three daughters were found murdered along with their security guard in their house in East Delhi’s Mansarovar Park, in Shahdara, on Saturday morning.
The relatives of the deceased ruled out any dispute in the family and said they suspected the involvement of the labourers, who were painting the house for the last 15 days. However, police said they were probing the murders from every angle, including robbery as well as property dispute.
Police said that a cupboard kept in the room where the women were found murdered, was ransacked, but nothing was found missing. It may be either a ploy to hoodwink the investigators or the killers were looking for some property-related papers, they said.
The jewellery the women were wearing was also found intact which indicates that the ransacking was done to mislead police into believing it was a robbery gone wrong, an officer said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Shahdara district, Nupur Prasad said the deceased women have been identified as Urmila Jindal, 82, her daughters Sangeeta Gupta, 56, Nupur, 48, Anjali, 38 and the 42-year-old security guard, Rakesh.
“Entry into the house was friendly. We are trying to ascertain the motive behind the murders. We have registered a case and have started investigations and efforts are on to nab the culprits. The bodies have been sent for autopsy,” said the DCP.
While Nupur and Anjali were unmarried, Sangeeta was a divorcee. Urmila has another daughter Abha, who is married and stays in South Delhi’s Sarvodaya Enclave with her husband and two children.
“Urmila’s husband Ramkishan and his six brothers had established the Jindal Oil Mill in 1932,, but later after he and his brothers passed away, Urmila started renting their 2,700 yard property in small portions to over 100 shops. Apart from that, the property is occupied by seven families of Urmila’s husband’s nephews (35 to 40 people). Their driver Rakesh goes around collecting the rent,” said Brijesh Kumar, who runs an iron parts shop from the property for the last 30 years.
Police said five to six people entered the house after midnight on Friday and murdered the security guard by slitting his throat.
“The killers then entered the first floor and murdered the four women who were all sleeping in one room. Their throats were slit with meat choppers,” said a police officer.
Police suspect that the murder was committed by people who were known to the family. There was no CCTVs installed around the property.
It appears that the killers were aware of it and they gained entry unchallenged after murdering the security guard.
Relatives said no one heard any sound. “Our rooms are a little far from each other which is why probably we could not hear any sound when the murders took place,” said Satish Chand Jindal, nephew of Urmila.
Recalling how the murders were discovered, Rakesh Jindal, another relative said he had gone for a morning walk when the vendor who provides flowers to the family for puja daily told him that the guard was lying dead in a pool of blood.
“I immediately went back and after seeing our guard, made a call to the police and went upstairs to inform the others. But I was shocked to see the four women, one on the bed, two on the floor and one on the sofa, lying dead with their throats slit,” said Rakesh.
Rakesh raised suspicion over the involvement of some workers in the killings. “There was whitewash work going on in the house for the last fortnight. Yesterday, the workers were scolded for their negligence. They had not covered the car properly while they were painting the ceiling beneath which the car was parked,” he claimed.
Those who knew the family also said that they had never got any inkling of a family dispute. “They have been living in this area since 1931. They looked like a happy family,” said a family friend.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range) Ravindra Yadav and Special CP (law & Order), North Zone, SBK Singh visited the spot.
“These are a series of very brutal murders. We will put our entire force into working out this case,” said SBK Singh.