Punjab Police on Thursday claimed to have cracked the month-old brutal double murder case of veteran journalist KJ Singh and his bedridden mother with arrest of an Uttar Pradesh-resident.
The Police claimed that 'unemployed' Gaurav Kumar, who is in his late 20s, executed the double murder alone after Singh "slapped" him after a tiff over sitting in a suspicious manner in a park close to his residence.
The killer was apprehended on Thursday afternoon on the airport road near Sohana Gurdwara when he was driving Singh's stolen Ford Ikon car with a fake number plate. The police have also recovered a kitchen knife used in the crime, along with a mobile phone, wrist watch and DVR.
Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal claimed that the case had been cracked and the knife used in the crime, Singh's car that was stolen, a mobile phone, an ATM card, a wrist watch and a digital video recorder were recovered from Gaurav Kumar, native of UP's Bulandshehar.
Chahal said that for the past month or so, "our PCR and other patrolling parties were placed on high alert. KJ's vehicle's description was also with them. One of the PCR teams intercepted this vehicle on the Sohana-Mohali road that leads to Mohali airport and began chasing it."
"Though Gaurav tried to speed away, he was intercepted and detained by PCR personnel. On checking the vehicle, they also found a vehicle-service slip in KJ Singh's name. They alerted the police station concerned and that is how we caught hold of the prime accused in the case," he added.
Chahal said that Singh and Gaurav had a tiff about a week ago after the former questioned him for sitting suspiciously in a park close to his house on the night of the crime.
An investigating officer maintained that the accused entered Singh's house by scaling a low-height boundary wall.
"He rang the door-bell twice and then took cover in the dark. When KJ opened the door, the accused first assaulted him. Since KJ was also a tall and well-built man, a scuffle took place between both. The accused was carrying a knife with which he stabbed KJ Singh multiple times, dragged his body to the bedroom and then slit his throat," said the officer.
After killing KJ's mother who was also in the house, the accused escaped in the journalist's car. "Since KJ's mother was also present in the house at that time, the accused killed her as well. later, he escaped with KJ's television - kept it in KJ's car - and escaped," added the officer.
The case
Sixty-four years old veteran journalist KJ Singh, and his 92-year-old mother were found murdered on September 23 afternoon. Post-mortems revealed that they had been stabbed and strangulated the previous night by more than one intruder.
While Singh's throat had been slit and he had been stabbed in the stomach, his bedridden mother was strangulated to death.
Singh, a former news editor with The Indian Express, had also worked for The Tribune and The Times of India in Chandigarh.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had directed the State police chief Suresh Arora to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), and the charge was given to Inspector General (Crime) Shashi Prabha.