Family doubts police’s theory

How can a person single-handedly kill seven people with a knife in a matter of minutes? This question is puzzling relatives of the Goel family that was wiped out in a murder frenzy, allegedly by their former driver, on Tuesday night.

How can a person single-handedly kill seven people with a knife in a matter of minutes? This question is puzzling relatives of the Goel family that was wiped out in a murder frenzy, allegedly by their former driver, on Tuesday night.

HT Image

“We are not convinced that one man can kill seven people,” said Sachin Mittal, murdered businessman Satish Goel’s son-in-law, on Friday.

Questioning the police theory, family members believe that more than one person was involved in the crime.

On Thursday, Inspector-General (Meerut zone) Bhavesh Kumar Singh and Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nitin Tiwari had declared 21-year-old Rahul Verma as the main accused, based on circumstantial evidence, in the case.

Mittal said, “Either there were more persons involved or Rahul has been made a scapegoat. He has no injuries on his body. At least one of the seven family members must have struggled during the incident.”

Apart from pressure from the victims’ family, traders and local residents, the police was under severe pressure to crack the case in wake of the forthcoming visit of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to Ghaziabad on May 26 for a function. The event has been postponed.

When HT asked SSP Tiwari, he said the police collected various circumstantial evidence against the accused to build a strong case.

“The family members were present during the press conference and they were fully convinced. They were present during re-enactment of the scene of crime. We have strong evidence against the accused but our investigation is not over yet,” Tiwari said.

The SSP said Rahul revealed that he had approached one Prashant to help him commit the crime but Prashant’s mobile phone showed he was out of Ghaziabad at the time of the incident.