Samaypur Badli mass murder: Accused planned wife’s murder for two days

A man confessed to murdering his wife and three daughters in Delhi due to debt and threats from a loan shark, police said. He was arrested after days on the run.

The man accused of murdering his wife and three daughters in outer Delhi’s Samaypur Badli last week told police he planned his wife’s murder for two days and killed the children after one of them witnessed the murder, police said on Sunday.

Samaypur Badli mass murder: Accused planned wife’s murder for two days

On February 23, Anita (30) and their three daughters aged three, four, five, were found dead with their throats slit at their one-bedroom rented accommodation. The husband, Munchun Kewat (42), a vegetable seller, was arrested on Saturday from Rajasthan’s Kishangarh after three days on the run.

To arrest the Kewat, DCP (outernorth) Hareshwar Swami said, “We scanned more than 800 CCTVs, spoke to different locals and sources on the ground. Teams were also sent to Bihar, Tamil Nadu (where he worked earlier), and Rajasthan. We used facial recognition system to identify and trace the movements.”

On Saturday, they found him in Kishangarh where he was sleeping in flower and fruit mandi to evade suspicion, the DCP added.

Kewat has allegedly confessed to the quadruple murders. He allegedly had a gambling addiction and had lost a lot of money to it, even borrowing money from his in-laws, the DCP said.

He told police that he had killed his wife because he was in debt to a loan shark the Samaypur Badli [CHECK] area who had threated to take the wife and children to work for him if Kewat failed to pay back the money. “He was upset that his wife was interacting with the loan shark and looking for a job,” Swami said.

An officer privy of the details of the investigation said the loan shark had called Kewat on February 23 and demanded the money, also delivering his threat. “Since he had no money to pay back the loan and was angry at the thought of his wife going away, he decided to kill her. He bought a big vegetable cutting knife from the market for ₹90 and hid in a bag.” [check]

He did not get an opportunity the same day but he got even more upset after his wife told him the loan shark had called her. “The couple had fights often due to money crunch,” said the officer, adding that he suspected his wife would leave him. [check]

On Wednesday, he finally killed her around 4 and 5 am. “The eldest daughter woke up and started crying. Not knowing what to do, killed her as well. After that, he panicked and killed the other two daughters. He has alleged that he planned to kill himself as well but couldn’t do it,” said the DCP.

Investigators found he fled to Ajmer. “He was also in touch with an old aide and was asking him for a job. In Ajmer, he found that all work would resume after Holi. He planned to hide until them. He slept next to shops,” the DCP said. [check]