Nepalese nationals, who mostly work in orchards in apple heartland Jubbal & Kotkhai, have left a bloody trail as a father allegedly murdered his wife and two children on Monday night. Only last week another Nepalese labourer had assaulted and killed the wife and son of an orchard owner in same region.
District police chief DW Negi, after visiting the murder site near Kharapattar in Jubbal area of Shimla hills said, “The accused has been identified and it is only a question of time before he will be arrested.” About the motive behind the murder, he said, “it appeared to be a clueless murder where a normal husband and wife quarrel could have provoked the murderous action.”
Accused Jai Bhadhur (40) after the midnight hour is said to hit wife Krishna (38) with an axe and also killed their two children, a four-year-old girl and a two-month-old son.There were three other children in the labour hut, daughters of the accused said to be from his first wife, whom he did not harm. After committing the crime the accused has been absconding.
Dalip Singh, brother of Krishna, on visiting the hut in the morning informed the police about the crime.Where the police have deployed search teams to nab the triple murder accused, Gujjar tribesman living in high altitude pasture lands with their herds have nabbed a Nepalese, who is the prime suspect in a double murder case that was committed last Thursday at Chhajpur along Pabbar valley in Jubbal area.
“The double murder accused is now in police custody,” said DW Negi. Gujjar tribesman nabbed the accused and handed him to the police, he said.The accused, whose sketch police had released on Monday, had also used an axe to hack down Sudha Devi (45) and her son Krishan Chand (26), wife and son of an orchard owner who had engaged the services of the Nepalese as a labourer for the upcoming apple harvest.
Motive behind the brutal murder was not known but the accused, a family man, had managed to escape from the crime site with his wife and five children.