Elderly couple’s murder in Greater Noida: Two suspects arrested, two on the run

Noida: Three days after the double murder of an elderly couple, the police on Sunday arrested two suspects after an encounter in Greater Noida

Noida: Three days after the double murder of an elderly couple, the police on Sunday arrested two suspects after an encounter in Greater Noida. They were identified as Dev Sharma, 20, and Vishan Singh Bhadoria, 23, both residents of Madhya Pradesh. The alleged mastermind Rohit, a resident of Mahoba, and Subhash from Aligarh, are on the run. According to police, these four suspects had partied at the house of Narendra Nath, 70, and later killed him and his wife Suman Nath, 65, and fled with valuables on February 4.

HT Image

Rajesh Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, said that during investigation, it was found that Narendra and Rohit were allegedly in touch. “The three other suspects were in touch with Rohit, going by phone call records. We also scanned CCTV footage from near the crime spot and identified the four suspects leaving Narendra’s house at night at 11pm,” he said. He said after the double murder, the four had walked to a guest house where they had been staying. “At 1.08am, one of the suspects booked a cab and fled to Gwalior,” the DCP said.

Police said the suspects allegedly paid ₹5,500 to the cab driver, identified as Afroz. The cabbie later identified the two arrested suspects in Greater Noida. Afroz told police that he had allegedly ferried them from Greater Noida to Gwalior without knowing that they were suspects in the double murder.

The police visited the guest house on Friday morning and scanned the CCTV footage. Officers said the suspects had allegedly stayed in one room and only Dev’s ID had been submitted at the front desk. A Noida police team was sent to Gwalior to nab them, but officers said the suspects allegedly got wind of it and fled.

On the evening of February 7, Dev was arrested from Rohit’s rented accommodation in Greater Noida’s Nawada village. Officers said Dev allegedly revealed that the three other suspects were also in Noida to meet a lawyer so as to surrender in court. Vishan was arrested after an encounter near the ATS roundabout. He received a bullet injury in his right leg while Rohit and Subhash managed to escape, the police added.

Police said Rohit worked as a ward boy in a hospital, Subhash worked as a security guard while Vishan sold noodles on the street.

Vishal Pandey, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida said that Rohit is a distant relative of a domestic helper who worked at the couple’s house. “Rohit, Subhash and Vishan were involved in some odd jobs in hospitals in Greater Noida and knew each other. They lived together in Nawada village. Dev came in contact with them through Vishan, as he is from Dev’s hometown,” he said.

The DCP said that Rohit had allegedly borrowed about ₹2 lakh from Narendra. “Rohit is a petty thief. He sometimes stole motorcycles and mortgaged it to Narendra. Of late, Narendra had started fearing Rohit due to his anti-social activities,” he said.

Officers said a few weeks ago, Rohit and his three friends had allegedly consumed liquor at Narendra’s house when two of the four suspects had allegedly hid themselves there. When questioned by the victim, they had allegedly stated that they had forgotten their valuables.

Officers said the victims had allegedly started planning the crime January 27.

Last week, the four suspects had gathered at Narendra’s house at 8.30pm and bought a liquor bottle from him for ₹650. The suspects and the victim allegedly consumed the alcohol together, after which they attacked Narendra, choked his neck with a belt and then with a muffler. The suspects then allegedly tied his hands, taped his mouth and dumped him in the basement. “They also snatched his debit card but were unable to withdraw money as Narendra had given them a fake PIN number,” the DCP said.

They then allegedly damaged the debit card and dumped it on the way.

Subhash and Rohit then went upstairs and knocked on the door since it was closed. “Suman opened the door and enquired about the matter. Subhash sneaked into one of the rooms and tried to ransack the house while Rohit fired a shot and killed Suman,” the DCP said. The suspects allegedly looted some valuables and ₹30,000 before fleeing. The police have recovered the victim’s passbook, cheque book, fixed deposit documents, voter ID, necklace, ₹13,000 and a countrymade gun allegedly from the suspects.

Love Kumar, additional commissioner of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said that the police have solved an important case. “The police have announced an award of ₹50,000 to the team for solving the case,” he said.