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Prayagraj police arrest suspect, claim cracking murders of four of a family
The 23-year-old suspect Pawan Kumar Saroj used to stalk the woman and would send her messages on WhatsApp.
Prayagraj police have arrested a suspect with strong circumstantial evidence against him indicating his involvement in the gruesome murders of four members of a family, including a woman who was also raped, at Mohanganj Gohri village earlier this week.
The bodies of a 47-year-old man, his 45-year-old wife, their 25-year-old daughter and 10-year-old differently able son were found at their house in the village on Thursday (November 25) morning. In connection with the crime, an FIR was lodged against 11 people of whom 8 were arrested by police on November 26.
The 23-year-old suspect Pawan Saroj used to stalk the woman and would send her messages on WhatsApp. “The victims and the suspect belong to same caste and prima facie it appears that one sided love affair was the reason behind the gruesome killings and rape with the woman,” police officials said at a press conference here on Sunday. However, the police officials maintained that the suspect was still to be questioned about his accomplices and the sequence of events.
Addressing media persons, ADG zone Prem Prakash said scanning of murdered 25-year-old woman’s WhatsApp messages revealed that she was receiving messages from a number that was traced to be of one Pawan Kumar Saroj, a labourer. As per the police, the last message that Pawan sent to the woman on November 21 was “I Love You” in reply to which the woman sent “I Hate You”.
After his arrest, Pawan tried to mislead the police but later confessed that he had been sending messages to the woman since September 18 with his love proposals which were continuously rejected by her.
While the woman had deleted her chats, the messages sent by Pawan were found in his mobile. Circumstantial evidence indicates that Pawan committed the murder with the help of his accomplices as he was enraged over being rejected by the woman. The forensic team found blood spots on Pawan’s shirt.
“Moreover, Pawan stopped sending messages to the woman after her family and she were murdered. Now the police will take Pawan’s remand of Pawan to question him about his other accomplices involved in the murders and will take his DNA sample to match it with vaginal swab of the raped woman and bite marks found on her body. Investigations also revealed that Pawan lived at some distance from the house of the victims and was a regular visitor to a nearby brick kiln”, ADG added.
He also said the arrested accused, who were named in the FIR, had denied their involvement in the murders. “The named accused were locked in a dispute with the brother of the murdered person and his family and no evidence has been found which could establish their involvement in the murders. However, their DNA samples will also be taken for matching them with the vaginal swab preserved for detailed examination,” the ADG said.
The one who was raped was adult : ADG
ADG Prem Prakash said on the basis of educational documents of the murdered woman her date of birth was June, 1996 and it was now established that she was not a minor as alleged in the FIR lodged by the kin of the victims.
The ADG said the suspect Pawan Kumar Saroj hails from Korsand village in Tharwai area of trans-Ganga and is illiterate. He used to take help of google voice to send messages to the woman.
Call records of accused being scanned: SSP
Prayagraj SSP Sarvshrestha Tripathi said Pawan has saved the number of the woman in his mobile as Gauri Ma’am and despite being illiterate, he can identify alphabets in his mobile. Some injury marks have also been found on his body about which he failed to give any satisfactory answers.
“Further investigations in the case are underway and soon names of other culprits in the case will also come to light. The post-mortem examination report has established that the woman was raped but no evidence of sexual assault with her mother has been found. Call records of Pawan and other persons are being scanned for getting clues,” the SSP added.
Earlier, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with the delegations of other political parties visited the kin of victims and assured all possible help to them.
