LUCKNOW: 25-year-old Hardik, an engineer by profession, stabbed his twin sister multiple times for opposing his interfaith relationship, leaving investigators, doctors and neighbours stunned.
Horrifyingly, the incident is just over an obsessive relationship that existed only on social media. As per the police sources, Hardik brutally murdered his twin sister Himshikha (25) and attempted to kill his mother Neelima at their residence in the Buddh Vihar area on Friday.
The motive, as per the investigators, seemed to be rooted in an online relationship that Hardik had developed with a woman hailing from another faith and whom he had never met in person.
According to police, Hardik had been in contact with a Muslim woman, based in Pune, for nearly one-and-a-half years through Instagram.
The two reportedly used to talk for hours online and had even promised to marry each other despite never meeting in real life.
According to Circle Officer (Civil Lines) Kuldeep Kumar Gupta, the accused repeatedly spoke about the relationship during interrogation.
"They communicated only through Instagram and had never met physically," Gupta said. He claimed they had promised to live and die together.
Police sources claimed that Hardik wanted to marry the woman believed that her family was harassing and torturing her because of their relationship. Investigators are trying to identify and locate the woman.
According to investigators, accused Hardik’s twin sister Himshikha was working in Gurugram in an IT firm and was also pursuing an MBA. She had been advising him to focus on his career instead of getting deeply involved in an online relationship.
Investigators said that after killing his sister inside their house on Friday afternoon, Hardik drove to his mother, Neelima, an assistant manager in a private insurance company, on Delhi Road, and calmly asked her to come home.
"I want to give you a surprise," he had said.
Unaware of what had happened, Neelima accompanied him home in the car. When she opened the door, she saw her daughter’s blood-soaked body lying on the bed.
Before she could react, Hardik attacked her with the knife.
Neelima suffered six stab wounds on her shoulder, chest and fingers but managed to escape and seek help.
Both siblings had earlier worked in the same IT firm.
While victim Himshikha continued her job, Hardik had quit his job about a year-and-a-half ago and started uploading content on YouTube.
As per SP City Ran Vijay Singh, the accused appeared mentally unstable and had been saying that he killed his sister as she was interfering in his “personal life".
He reportedly claimed during his interrogation that the victim tried to control his personal life by telling him to stop obsessing over the girl and focus on his career.
He said that his sister’s unsolicited advice and sarcasm over his relationship angered him. Hardik allegedly told police he had warned his sister several times to stop interfering in his life, but she kept telling him that he had ruined his life because of a girl.
The police sources said that during questioning, the explanation of the accused shocked the investigators.
He reportedly told the cops that after killing his sister, he knew he would go to jail.
Shockingly, he said he thought his mother would be left alone and would suffer and hence planned to kill her as well. Neelima survived the attack after managing to escape despite sustaining multiple stab wounds.
Police said a kitchen knife was used as a weapon, which was later recovered from the house. The brutality of the crime stunned the medical team that conducted the post-mortem examination.
According to the post-mortem report, Himshikha suffered 84 stab wounds across her body. Doctors found deep wounds on her neck, chest, abdomen, arms, legs, shoulders and face.
Internal organs, including the heart, liver and kidneys, were severely damaged. As per the doctors involved in the autopsy, the attack was extremely violent.
The lungs were ruptured, and the ribs were broken. There was hardly any part of the body that did not have an injury. The autopsy process lasted nearly two hours and was videographed due to the extreme nature of the injuries.
Meanwhile, Neelima is currently recovering in hospital and is said to be out of danger.
According to hospital staff, the grieving mother often breaks down thinking about the tragedy that has destroyed her family. Hardik was arrested in the New Moradabad area on Saturday and later sent to jail after being produced in court.
Neighbours said that Neelima had struggled for years but had worked hard to educate the children.
Originally from Jogipura in Badaun district, Neelima had moved to Moradabad nearly three decades ago. After separating from her husband about 10 years ago, she single-handedly raised her twin children and ensured they completed engineering courses.