NEW DELHI: A man related to the five-member of a family who were found dead at their house in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura area, was arrested on Thursday for murdering them over a monetary dispute, police said.
The bodies of Shambhu Chaudhary, 43, an e-rickshaw driver; his wife Sunita; and their children — Shivam, 17, Sachin, 14, and Komal, 12 —were found in a badly decomposed state at their rented accommodation on Wednesday.
The accused has been identified as Prabhu Nath, a relative of the family, who also resides in Bhajanpura.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Northeast, Ved Prakash Surya said that Prabhu had borrowed Rs 30,000 from Shambhu and invested it in the market to earn interest. Prabhu told police that he works in a coaching institute at Laxmi Nagar.
“He also said that he used to work as an agent for a moneylender,” Surya said.
During the initial investigation, the police checked the CCTV footage of the area and Shambhu’s call records were also analysed.
The call records revealed that the phone was active till late evening of February 3 and from the CCTV footage, it was found that Prabhu was seen entering the house of the deceased around 3.30 pm on February 3. He was taken into custody and he admitted to the crime, the DCP said. The officer said that at 3.36 pm, the accused called Shambhu and asked him to meet at Laxmi Nagar.
While Shambhu went there, Prabhu went to his house where Sunita was alone, Surya said, adding that during an altercation about the money, he got agitated and strangled the woman. He hit her on the head with an iron rod, the officer said.
According to police, Komal returned home after her tuition and was killed in the same manner. “After that, he killed Shivam and then Sachin when they returned from their school,” Surya said, adding that he killed four people in four hours.
“He locked the house from outside and went to meet Shambhu. They both consumed liquor somewhere in Bhajanpura. Then, they both went to Shambhu’s house...there, Prabhu attacked him on his head with the same iron rod,” he said, adding that Prabhu locked the house from outside and its key was recovered from his possession. The post-mortem report of the five victims is awaited and further investigation into the case is underway.
It was a murder not suicide, kin claimed
The relatives of the e-rickshaw driver Shambhu, who was found dead along with his wife and three children on Wednesday, had suspected it to be a case of murder and not suicide.
“I got the information regarding the bodies from locals. I went inside the flat along with a forensic team. There was no issue in the family. It cannot be suicide. It is a murder case,” Shambhu’s cousin Dinanath Chaudhary had said. He claimed that he had gone to the children’s school and “found out that they had last attended classes on February 3”.
Police were informed at 11.16 am by Shambhu’s neighbours about foul smell emanating from the house.