Sacked driver and aide held for killing woman, robbing her house

The driver was sacked by the deceased and her husband nearly a month ago and had been in need of money since then. This is the reason why he planned the robbery, say cops

LUCKNOW Two men, including a sacked driver, were arrested on Thursday in the robbery cum murder case in Lucknow’s Shaktinagar area where a 60-year-old woman, Nafees Fatima, was killed in her house on Wednesday afternoon, said police.

The accused have been identified as driver Jitendra Singh, 23, the prime accused, and his two aides - Santosh Kumar, 24, and Irshad Ali, 25. (Pic for representation)

The driver, Jitendra Singh, 23, was sacked by the deceased and her husband nearly a month ago and had been in need of money since then. This is the reason why he planned to rob Nafees Fatima’s house, said Akash Kulhari, joint commissioner of police (crime), law & order.

“The accused have been identified as driver Jitendra Singh, 23, the prime accused, and his two aides - Santosh Kumar, 24, who worked at a general shop and Irshad Ali, 25. The former two - residents of Ayodhya - have been arrested, but Irshad Ali of Barabanki is at large,” stated a press note by the Lucknow Police.

Akash Kulhari, joint commissioner of police (crime), law & order, said a named FIR under IPC sections 302 (murder), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) was registered by the deceased’s husband, Wasim Khan, after scanning the CCTV footage at FM Apartment in Shaktinagar (where the incident took place).

“Khan recognised one of the accused by the colour of his clothes (all accused were masked), after which the accused were nabbed on Thursday from Faizabad road while they were trying to leave the city,” stated the police.

On Wednesday, Nafees Fatima was murdered in her house by the accused. She was living with her husband and their children were settled abroad. The incident occurred when her husband was away.

“The accused entered the house with the intention of loot, but the victim identified the driver and protested, after which she was killed by the robbers,” said police.

“Jewellery worth approximately ₹3 lakh was looted, of which valuables worth ₹2.5 lakh have already been recovered from the accused. A team has been sent to Barabanki to arrest the third accused. The arrested duo has one criminal history each in Ayodhya and Lucknow,” added cops.

UP DGP Vijaya Kumar announced a reward of ₹25,000 for the police team involved in solving the case, stated a tweet by the UP Police.