East Delhi murders: Elderly woman, 3 daughters stabbed at haveli

Robbery was ruled out as a motive as valuables on the premises were left untouched. The ancestral haveli, one of east Delhi’s popular landmarks, is shared by seven families.

An 82-year-old woman, her three daughters and a security guard were found dead in their ancestral haveli in east Delhi’s Shahdara on Saturday in what police believe could be a mass murder for property.

Delhi police official cordon off a haveli where four members of a family were found stabbed to death at Mansarovar Park, Shahdara in east Delhi, on October 07, 2017. The security guard was also found dead near the stairs to the house (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

The five were found with neck wounds believed to have been inflicted by sharp objects though police are yet to recover any weapon.

Police ruled out robbery as a motive despite the women’s room being ransacked. Police are probing if a property dispute led to the murders.

“The aged woman, Urmila Jindal, was to sell her share of the property,” said Dependra Pathak, adding the entry into the property and the women’s room was “friendly”.

“The jewellery and expensive mobile phones of the victims were left untouched. Robbery does not look like a motive here,” he said. Urmila’s nephews and other relatives, however, denied any property dispute.

The murders happened in a haveli known as the ‘Jindal Oil Mills’, a popular landmark in east Delhi and one of the first buildings to be built in Shahdara.

According to family and local residents, the entire Jindal family has other businesses and gets rent from other properties.

The four other deceased are Urmila’s three daughters, Sangeeta Gupta, 56, Nupur, 48, Anjali, 38 — and a 42-year-old security guard, Rakesh. Urmila had lost her husband a few years ago. Urmila had another daughter, Abha, who lives with her husband in South Extension.

“Nupur and Anjali had decided to serve their mother, so they did not get married. Sangeeta lost her husband a few years ago,” said Rakesh Jindal, Urmila’s nephew.

The murders were discovered around 7am on Saturday when a flower delivery man, a regular to the household, did not receive a response from the security guard. He entered the unlocked gate of the property to find the guard lying near the stairs.

“While the large family was discussing the guard’s murder, one of the members entered Urmila’s room on the first floor to find her murdered too. Her three daughters were lying dead nearby, either on the bed or below. All the five had been stabbed multiple times in their necks,” said an investigator not authorised to address the media.