Ex-caretaker of senior couple held for Shahdara double murder

Delhi Police arrested Ashok Kumar Sen, 39, for the double murder of a senior couple, recovering stolen jewelry worth ₹10 lakh from him.

New Delhi

The police said the accused was unemployed for over four months and was in financial crisis. (Getty Images)

The Delhi Police arrested a 39-year-old former caretaker in connection with the double murder of a senior citizen couple at their third-floor Shahdara residence last Saturday night, police said on Wednesday, adding that the accused was arrested from a relative’s residence in Rajasthan’s Sikar.

Police said questioning of the accused led to the recovery of gold jewellery worth around ₹10 lakh. They said the accused, Ashok Kumar Sen, killed 71-year-old retired teacher, Virender Kumar Bansal, and his wife Parvesh Bansal, 65, as he was unemployed for over four months and was in a financial crisis.

Police said he had worked for the couple for 28 days in August, when Virender Kumar Bansal suffered fractures following an accidental fall in the bathroom. Sen was hired through a placement agency and was paid ₹1,100 per day, joint commissioner of police (central) Madhur Verma said.

“The suspect had taken precautions, such as covering his face and wearing gloves, to avoid his identification either through CCTV cameras or fingerprint matching,” said Verma.

Around 12.30am on January 4, the Mansarovar Park police received a call from a man reporting that his parents were lying unconscious at their third-floor residence in Ram Nagar Extension in Shahdara. Police found the wife unconscious in a room near the main entrance while the husband was in another room, with blood oozing out.

The couple was rushed to a nearby hospital, where the attending doctors declared them brought dead, said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam.

A case of murder was registered and the couple’s son became a suspect after he told the police that he opened the main door’s electronic locks using his keys. Investigators questioned the son, but could not establish his role. The investigators prepared a list of people, including former employees, who had access to the house. They focused their probe on two caretakers who had worked at the house last year.

DCP Gautam said that as part of the probe, they prepared a list of possible suspects who could have gained unforced entry into the house, as there was no sign of forced entry.

The first caretaker, Sonu, was given a clean chit after questioning and his strong alibi. The investigators contacted the wife of the second caretaker, Ashok Kumar Sen, who lives in Delhi’s Nangloi. Sen became their suspect when his wife told them that he had gone on a pilgrimage to Khatu Shyam temple in Rajasthan, leaving his mobile phone at home, which appeared unusual to them. They visited his rented house and scanned his cellphone.

“We found a photograph on the phone in which Sen was wearing the same trousers that the killer was wearing when he was captured on CCTV cameras entering and leaving the building the couple lived in. As Sen had contacted his wife using the mobile phone of his relative in Rajasthan’s Sikar, we rushed a team there and arrested him. He confessed to the crime and gave us the stolen jewellery that he had hidden in a metal box containing wheat flour,” DCP Gautam said.