Neighbour, her lover held for elderly woman’s murder in Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar
Neighbour’s friend was addicted to online gaming and lost a huge amount of money in it; the duo planned the murder to get back the lost money, say police
LUCKNOW The Lucknow Police on Friday claimed to have cracked the sensational murder of an elderly woman in LDA Colony with the arrest of a 29-year-old neighbour and her beau.
Sarla Kaka, 70, who used to live alone under the Sarojini Nagar police station limits, was found dead in her home in broad daylight on Monday. Five days on, the cops nabbed her neighbour, Archana Sharma, the alleged mastermind behind the killing, and her lover Suraj Yadav, 30, a Para resident originally from Unnao, said officials.
“Archana’s friend Suraj was addicted to online gaming and had lost a huge amount of money in it, along with his two bikes, a car and brother’s cell phone. He also lost ₹50,000-60,000 that he took from Archana. He had even mortgaged the jewellery of his girlfriend’s mother. Hence to get back all that was lost, they decided to rob Sarla Kaka,” DCP (South) Tej Swaroop Singh told media persons.
“Archana used to see Sarla wearing gold jewellery, and knowing that she also got pension money, she planned to rob the elderly woman,” said the DCP.
On Monday, Archana went to Sarla’s house after her house help left around 12pm. “She chose this time of the day so that the needle of suspicion points to the house help,” said cops, adding that Sarla even offered Archana snacks, which she refused saying she was on Monday fast.
Later, Archana called Suraj. “The duo hit Sarla on the head multiple times with a metal object. They also strangled the elderly woman using her own dupatta. Suraj also used his ‘gamchha’ to tie the victim’s limbs,” said the officer, adding that the duo decamped with the jewellery, mobile phone, and other belongings of the deceased.
According to SHO (Sarojini Nagar) Shailendra Giri, when the CCTV footage was examined, Suraj Yadav was seen wearing a towel in one footage and was without it in the other. The towel seen around his neck was found tied around Sarla Kaka’s neck. “This made him the suspect. Suraj had stolen a mobile phone from the spot after the incident and had even taken the box, but the receipt was left at the spot. Based on this, the phone was put on surveillance,” he said.
Police said Archana, who works at a beauty parlour, was caught on Suraj’s information. “After the murder, Archana did not stop going to Sarla’s house and kept updating Suraj with all the information,” said the DCP.
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