Man murdered by wife, son, son-in-law over property transfer

New Delhi: Denying property transfer to his son’s name cost a 56-year-old man his life as he was punched, kicked, and bludgeoned to death with sticks allegedly by

New Delhi: Denying property transfer to his son’s name cost a 56-year-old man his life as he was punched, kicked, and bludgeoned to death with sticks allegedly by his wife, son and son-in-law at their home in outer Delhi’s Samaipur Badli last week.

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After killing the man named Anand Kumar, his three family members allegedly stuffed his body in a jute bag, transported it on a motorcycle and threw it in the Munak canal, almost two kilometres away from their home, the police said on Wednesday.

The crime took place a week ago but came to notice only when Kumar’s brother, Shankar Das, approached the Samaipur Badli police three days after the crime, filed a missing complaint and suspected that his brother may have been killed by his family members.

Till that time, the police had not been informed about Kumar’s disappearance either by his family members or neighbours, many of who had allegedly witnessed the assault on July 8, senior police officers associated with the case said.

On Tuesday, the police arrested Kumar’s wife Vimla Devi, son Yogesh Kumar, and son-in-law Lalit for allegedly killing him and destroying the evidence of the crime by throwing the body in the canal. The body, however, has yet not been recovered from the canal.

“Our teams have been searching the body in the canal with the help of divers. Kumar’s wife, son and son-in-law have been arrested and booked for murder, destruction of evidence and common intention under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of Indian Penal Code. They have confessed to their crime,” said deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Gaurav Sharma.

DCP Sharma said that Kumar’s brother, Shankar Das, in his complaint on July 11, had alleged that his brother’s family members used to ill-treat him and did not give him food because he had been refusing transfer of the house’s ownership to his son Yogesh. Kumar used to work as a barber at a local salon, owned by one Ranvir.

“...I used to talk to my brother on Ranvir’s phone and he used to tell me about the torture he faced from his family members. He often feared his family members would kill him someday...,” Das said in his complaint, which was converted into the first information report (FIR).

In the complaint, Das said Kumar’s neighbour informed his son (Das’) Prashant that his uncle was assaulted outside the house by his family members until he became unconscious on July 8 afternoon. They dragged him inside in unconscious state and thereafter he was not seen by anyone. Das tried to speak with Yogesh and Lalit but they did not answer his calls. He then filed the missing complaint.

Senior police officers said that they checked the CCTV footage of Kumar’s neighbourhood and found that his family members were dragging a jutebag outside the house on the night of July 8. In another camera, two persons were seen carrying the sack on a motorcycle while a third person on another bike was following them, they said.

“We interrogated the three suspects and confronted with the video footage. They broke down and confessed to the crime,” DCP Sharma said.