Police say both knives used in east Delhi murders recovered, were bought for ₹70

Police said that the two allegedly purchased the kitchen knives for a total of ₹70 from a shop in Laxmi Nagar six hours before the crime

Twenty-eight-year-old Kishan, and his 26-year-old cousin, Ankit Kumar Singh Rajput, arrested last week for the alleged double murder in east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar, had used two kitchen knives and not one, as was suspected earlier, the Delhi Police said on Sunday.

A videograb of the two suspects buying the knives. (HT Photo)

Police said that the two allegedly purchased the kitchen knives for a total of ₹70 from a shop in Laxmi Nagar six hours before the crime when they slit the throats of 76-year-old Rajrani Karar and her 39-year-old daughter Ginni Karar at their Krishna Nagar flat on the night of May 25, police said on Sunday.

Both the knives were recovered from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh following the interrogation of the two suspects.

Police officers associated with the investigation said they found out about two knives being used in the crime after the CCTV footage from the shop emerged, which purportedly showed the Kishan and Rajput buying the knives with yellow and orange handles. Police said the shopkeeper initially quoted ₹40 for each knife, after which the suspects bargained with him and bought each knife for ₹35. Rajput made a UPI payment for the knives after scanning the QR code with his phone, the officer added.

In the 2.28-minute-long footage, the two men were purportedly seen at a shop with a helmet each in their hands. The footage then showed Kishan picking up a knife and giving it to Rajput, after which they discuss something with the shopkeeper.

“Initially, we did not know that the suspects used two knives. Rajput, who was arrested first, also did not disclose this. It was only when we got the CCTV footage and spoke to the shopkeeper, we found out about the two knives,” said an investigator, who did not want to be identified.

Kishan, who was Ginni’s computer tutor, brought Rajput into the scene after Rajrani was looking for a music tutor for her daughter. The two suspects gained easy access into the house as Kishan was known to the mother-daughter duo. After Kishan’s arrest, it came to light that they threw the knives somewhere in Gonda while they were headed to Lucknow the morning after the murders.

The highly decomposed bodies of Rajrani and her daughter Ginni, who suffered from autism and a speech impediment, were found at their first-floor flat of a four-storey apartment building in Krishna Nagar on May 29, nearly four days after they were murdered.

While Ginni’s body was between the kitchen and living room, Rajrani’s body was near the door of the bedroom and the entire flat was ransacked. After committing the murders, the two allegedly took ₹58,000 along with some jewellery three laptops, three iPhones, one iPad, and an Apple smartwatch from the house, police said.