75-year-old killed in home invasion near Delhi’s Sainik Farms

According to police, three brothers — one of whom had painted the house last week — broke into the house in the early hours of Wednesday and killed Bhardwaj with a hammer, possibly after he woke up during the burglary and tried to resist the robbers.

New Delhi: A 75-year-old man — the father of a brigadier in the army — was killed at his South Delhi house in the early hours of Wednesday by three brothers who broke in, hoping to find cash and valuables, police officers aware of the case said.

Police said Satish Kumar Bhardwaj lived alone in his three-storey house at Freedom Fighter’s Enclave. (HT PHOTO)

Satish Kumar Bhardwaj lived in a three-storey house in Freedom Fighter’s Enclave near Sainik Farms, police said. He had been alone in the house since 2009, when his wife died. Bhardwaj’s eldest son, Brig Loveleesh Kumar Bhardwaj, is currently posted in Madhya Pradesh and his daughter Yamini lives in Kaushambi, while his second son Deepak Bhardwaj is in the US, police said.

The victim was registered as a senior citizen with the Delhi Police, and Meenu Choudhary, joint commissioner of police (southern range), said that a beat constable visited him routinely.

According to police, three brothers — one of whom had painted the house last week — broke into the house in the early hours of Wednesday and killed Bhardwaj with a hammer, possibly after he woke up during the burglary and tried to resist the robbers.

Two of the three suspects were nabbed within hours of the murder coming to light.

“We have arrested two brothers, Ravi Kumar and Dharmender Kumar. We are hunting for the third suspect,” the joint commissioner said. “Ravi was involved in repainting the house until a week ago. He conceived the robbery plan because he believed the victim’s house to be containing cash and valuables.”

Chandan Chowdhary, deputy commissioner of police (south), said, “Overall, the robbed items we have recovered so far from them were not worth even a few thousand rupees.”

Yamini said her father had frequent visitors at home. “He was visited by people from the neighbourhood every two hours. My husband visited him on Tuesday,” she said, adding that Bhardwaj was to leave for Gaya, Bihar for a pilgrimage on Wednesday evening.

A local priest named Mithilesh Kumar used to carry out prayers in Bhardwaj’s house every morning, and the second floor of the house was occupied by a tenant till last month. “When the tenant left, Satish decided to renovate and repair the floor. Painters, plumbers and other service providers would keep coming in until a week ago, when the works were completed,” said Anand Kumar, son of the priest.

Police said Ravi began planning the robbery around February 10, a few days before his painting job was to finish. “Ravi observed that apart from a cook and the priest, there were no regular visitors to the house. So, he roped in his two brothers in the hope of landing riches in the house,” said the DCP.

The joint commissioner said, “It seems Bhardwaj put up a fight, following which they restrained him and struck his head with a hammer.”

The crime came to light at around 7.30am, when the priest and his son arrived for conducting prayers. “Satish did not respond to door bells, and both his phones were switched off,” said Anand, who then scaled a balcony to peep through a window to find Satish lying on the floor. Local residents then broke open the door, he said.

The police were informed at 8.15am, upon which a case of murder and robbery was registered at the Neb Sarai police station. “With the help of CCTV footage and technical surveillance, we were able to zero down on the three brothers,” said the joint CP.

Ravi and Dharmender, who live in the nearby Paryavaran Complex, were arrested in the afternoon and many robbed items recovered from them. Their brother, whose name the police have withheld, remains on the run.