Uttarakhand man accused of killing wife, 3 women of his family still at large

Police said that the accused had telephoned his mother within the first hour of committing the crime saying that he was going to die by suicide

An intensive manhunt is still on by the Pithoragarh police in Uttarakhand to nab the man accused of killing four women members of his family, including his wife, in Burshum village of Gangolihat subdivision on Friday, officials said on Sunday.

Police said they are also searching near a riverbank as the accused might have jumped into the river from the hilltop. (Representative Image)

Pithoragarh superintendent of police Lokeshwar Singh said, “We have intensified our manhunt for the accused. Sixty regular police personnel, revenue police officials, an SDRF (state disaster response force) team, a dog squad, and drones have been deployed to trace the accused. The local terrain (jungle and cave) makes the search difficult.”

The SP said that the accused had telephoned his mother within the first hour of committing the crime saying that he was going to die by suicide.

“The sniffer dogs are going up to the high reaches under which the river Ramganga flows. The accused might have jumped into the river from the hilltop. We are also searching near the riverbank,” the SP added.

Police said they haven’t recovered the mobile phone from which the accused called his mother. “The mobile phone got switched off right after the call. Its last location was outside the village,” the SP said.

The area where the murder was committed is around 60 km from Pithoragarh district headquarters and comes under the jurisdiction of the revenue police. However, the case was transferred to the regular police the same day given its seriousness.

Police recovered the body of three women, who were killed with a sharp edge weapon, on Friday morning, while the body of the wife of the accused, who was killed by strangulation, was recovered in the evening.

Earlier it was suspected that the accused had fled away with his wife after killing the other three women.

As per the preliminary information, accused Santosh Ram (40) entered into a heated exchange with the family members. In a fit of rage, he took out a sharp edge weapon and brutally murdered his aunt Hemanti Devi (65), his cousin sister Maya (20), and his cousin brother Prakash’s wife Rama Devi (24). He also strangulated his wife Chandra Devi (37) with a cloth.

Asked about the reason for the crime, the SP said the accused isn’t mentally stable and has aggressive/violent behaviour.

“He would enter into a fight with family members frequently after anger outbursts,” he said.

According to police, the accused hails from a poor background and used to perform Cholia dance form in weddings.