The Sultanpur police have arrested the owner of a tent house along with his two brothers for the alleged murder of a woman and her 21-year-old daughter.
The three brothers were identified as Irfan (tent house owner), Sadan and Shehzad. The deceased were identified as Shakuntala, 40, and her daughter Vijay Laxmi.
The mother-daughter duo were found murdered in their house last Tuesday. The police also recovered a machete used in the murder.
Sultanpur’s Superintendent of Police Somen Barma said on Monday that Shakuntala, whose husband is a vegetable vendor, did not have money to fulfill her daily needs.
"Irfan became friendly with the woman and started spending a lot of money on her. He would take her for a ride in his luxury car. Then he met her 21-year-old daughter and asked the mother to let her be with him. The daughter turned down his proposal and this strained the relationship between the mother and Irfan," the SP said.
The district police chief said that Irfan along with his two brothers planned to kill the mother-daughter duo. On June 29, Irfan and his two brothers entered the residence of the woman while her husband was away and asked Sadan to stand guard outside.
"I tried to persuade Shakuntala to get me married to Vijay Laxmi and even agreed to pay for her studies and pamper her with all the luxuries, but she was defiant," Irfan told police during the interrogation.
"Upset at the rejection, I demanded all my money back from Shakuntala which led to a brawl. In a fit of rage, I took out the machete and slit her neck. Thereafter, we held Vijay Laxmi who began screaming and killed her too before we fled," Irfan added.
Irfan's call details revealed that more than 500 calls were exchanged between him and Shakuntala.
All the three brothers were sent to jail and further investigations are on.
Meanwhile, a trader, identified as Suresh Chandra Gupta (75), and his wife Krishna Devi (72) were found murdered and the miscreants also robbed their house in Mar hamlet just about 200 metres away from Pinahat police station in Agra district.
On Sunday evening, the bodies of the elderly couple were found lying in a room on the first floor.
Agitated over the killing, the local traders kept their establishments closed on Monday.
Agra’s Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary claimed to have constituted three teams to investigate the incident and arrest the killers.
A case of robbery and murder was registered on the complaint filed with the police by the victim’s son. He claimed that jewellery worth over Rs 15 lakh along with Rs 15 lakh in cash were taken away by the accused after killing his parents. The victim owned an oil mill.
Sunil Gupta, a neighbour of Suresh Chandra Gupta claimed, when he found that both the couple had not come out of the house till evening on Sunday, he suspected foul play.
Suresh’s only son Mukesh Gupta, also a trader, lives in Balkeshwar Colony in Agra. Sunil claimed that he found the doors lying open so he went inside and found the bodies of both Suresh Chand and Krishna Devi lying on the floor. He informed the local police and Mukesh.
Both the victims had injury marks and it appeared that someone attacked them with a blunt object and after two succumbed to their injuries, they collectd valuables from the house and escaped.
The police sent both the bodies for autopsy and were investigating the case.