Elderly couple murdered at home, daughter-in-law held

The elderly couple lived on the ground floor of the house, while Rattan, Monika and their son lived on the first floor. Verma had retired as the vice-principal of a Delhi government school, and the family had been living in this house for around 38 years

Police on Monday arrested a 30-year-old woman for the murder of her in-laws in northeast Delhi’s Gokalpuri, officers aware of the matter said on Monday, adding that the woman committed the crime along with her boyfriend and his associate, who are on the run.

Police outside the house of the deceased couple in Gokalpuri in NEw Delhi on Monday. (HT PHOTO)

According to police, the incident occurred on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, when the victims, identified as Radhey Shyam Verma (72) and his wife Veena Verma (68), were sleeping at their residence in Gokalpuri’s Bhagirathi Vihar area. Their son Ravi Rattan (38) and minor grandson (name withheld by police) were also present in the house when their daughter-in-law Monika, along with her boyfriend Sanjay Kumar (34) and his associate, killed them by slitting their throats as they slept, police said.

According to officers, the elderly couple lived on the ground floor of the house, while Rattan, Monika and their son lived on the first floor. Verma had retired as the vice-principal of a Delhi government school in Karol Bagh, and the family had been living in this house for around 38 years, police said.

The DCP said, “Rattan said he had seen his parents around 10:30pm on Sunday.”

A senior Delhi Police officer aware of the investigation said that during the preliminary enquiry, it was revealed that Monika was having an extramarital affair with Kumar, and she wanted to live with him. “As per their plan, her boyfriend and his associate reached her house on Sunday at around 7pm and they were hiding on the terrace till the murder of the elderly couple,” a senior police officer said, asking not to be named.

“We scanned footages of all CCTV cameras installed in and around the place of occurrence to corroborate the evidence. Two days before the murder, the suspects had done a recce of the house and after that, they executed the plot to kill the elderly couple. They also had knowledge that Verma recently took ₹5 lakh as advance money to sell the rear portion of the house.”

Earlier in the day, officers said that prima facie, it appeared that the suspects had entered the house from the rear gate. “We have got some vital links, which indicates that suspects were known to some of the family members and relatives,” an officer said.

Police said that acting on some vital clues and electronic evidence, they nabbed Monika.

“We have arrested Monika while her boyfriend and his associate are still at large. Several teams have been deployed to nab the other suspects,” said Tirkey.