Four arrested for murder of senior-citizen couple in Ghaziabad on Diwali

One of the suspects, who had been living with the senior-citizen couple for the past 10 years and looking after them, and his aide hit the victims on the head with a hammer and killed them at their home late on the night of Diwali (November 4), said police

The Ghaziabad police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked the double-murder case of a senior-citizen couple, and arrested four suspects.

The suspects of the double murder case in police custody, in Ghaziabad on Tuesday. (Sakib Ali/HT)

Both Ashok Jaidka, 72, and his wife Madhu Jaidka, 70, were murdered at their home late on the night of Diwali (November 4). During the investigation, police found CCTV camera footage in which two unidentified suspects were spotted entering the couple’s house and leaving within 5-6 minutes.

Police identified the four suspects as Sundar Tiriya, his friend Atul Kumar, their accomplice Azad Kumar, and another man Rohit Narula, who owns a two-wheeler distribution firm in Sahibabad.

“During the course of the investigation, we found that Tiriya, who had been on the run since the incident, had been living with the couple for the past 10 years and looking after them. In October, Ashok Jaidka asked him to either leave the house or start paying him ₹4,000 per month as rent. Tiriya was infuriated because Jaidka never paid him anything for his services, and instead misbehaved with him several times. Tiriya hatched a plan and called his friend Atul Kumar from his hometown on the pretext of getting him married. He then convinced his friend to help him with the plan,” said Nipun Agarwal, superintendent of police (city 1).

Both Tiriya and Atul Kumar belong to Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh.

“Narula was a friend of Jaidka and also handled his finances. He owed Jaidka ₹60 lakh and had only managed to pay back about ₹30 lakh so far. So, when Tiriya met him in October, Narula allegedly instigated him to take revenge against Jaidka,” the SP said.

Thereafter, Tiriya also roped in Azad Kumar , a caretaker at the Jaidkas’ godown. The police said that Tiriya told him that he could take all the scrap in the godown if they get rid of the couple.

“On the night of Diwali, Tiriya and Atul Kumar went to Jaidka’s house and hit the victims on the head with a hammer, while Azad Kumar acted as a lookout. With the help of CCTV camera footage, electronic surveillance and manual intelligence, we found the suspects and arrested them,” the SP said.

The police said that the suspects were arrested from Patel Nagar area under the jurisdiction of Sihani Gate police station.