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Sitapur murders follow-up: After three days of probing, cops continue to be clueless
Police in Sitapur district are baffled by contradictory statements from the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a family of six. Eight people, including the younger son, are detained for further interrogation. The post-mortem report raises questions about the initial police theory, hinting at a larger conspiracy over property.
Even after three days of investigation, the police failed to reach any conclusion, remaining baffled by the contradictory statements of the prime suspect of the gruesome murders of six members of a family, in Sitapur district, on Tuesday.
The police have detained eight people, including the younger son of the family and seven others to further interrogate them in the matter. The police had earlier claimed that Anurag Singh, 45, shot himself dead early on Saturday morning after killing his mother Savitri Singh, 62, wife Priyanka Singh and three children Aarna, 12, Aadvik, 8, and Aarvi, 7, after a confrontation with mother and wife at his house in Palhapur village under Rampur Mathura police station limits of Sitapur.
But the findings of post-mortem examination brought Anurag Singh’s younger brother Ajit Singh under scanner as he remained unhurt despite being present in the house at the time of the incident. Ajit had confirmed that Anurag killed all family members before ending his life and he also tried to attack him, but he locked himself in a room.
The post-mortem examination report confirmed that Anurag had two bullet wounds in his head and another wound apparently caused due to a hit from a blunt object. This made investigators probe how a person could shoot himself twice in the head and cause injury to self with a blunt object.
The brother of Anurag’s wife, Ankit Singh, had also questioned the initial police theory and suspected that his sister and others were murdered over a larger criminal conspiracy over property. He said that the family owned at least 45 bighas of agricultural land and Anurag used to do organic farming on around 100 bighas of land including 55 bighas of land taken on lease. He suspected division of the property could be the reason for the killings.
A police official, privy to the investigations, confirmed that a team of investigators is interrogating Ajit after taking him into custody. He said Ajit’s wife, brother-in-law, father-in-law, friend, Anurag’s servant, a tractor driver and one more person are being questioned about the incident.
He said that the police team also took Ajit to the crime scene thrice on Monday and Tuesday and tried to solve the murder mystery. He said Ajit is not cooperating much with the investigators and giving contradictory statements and the police could not question him rigorously as he had undergone heart bypass surgery recently.
He said a team is also analysing call detail reports of the key suspects and others and questioning other relatives of Anurag and residents of the same village.
