The promise of ‘surprise money’ (or ‘Dhanvarsha’) by a self-styled godman led to the death of three people in Delhi whose dead bodies were found inside a parked near a flyover in Delhi's Peeragarhi area on Sunday.
While it initially looked like a case of suicide as there were no visible external injuries or signs of struggle and police had found a plastic bottle and some glasses with traces of poison, the arrest of a baba solved the mystery that initially surrounded the case.
The accused baba has been identified as Kamruddin, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad, who ran a ‘tantric center' in Loni, Ghaziabad. He allegedly killed the three as part of a well-planned conspiracy for financial gains by luring the victims into a trap of “Dhanvarsha (Surprise Money) through tantric rituals, police said.
Who are the three victims?
On Sunday, passersby informed the police about three people lying unconscious inside a parked white Tigor car at around 3:50pm. The car belonged to 76-year-old Randhir who was found dead on driver's seat and a 47-yearold property dealer, Shiv Naresh, was on the front seat, Woman named Laxmi, 40, was found dead in the backseat of the car.
{{/usCountry}}On Sunday, passersby informed the police about three people lying unconscious inside a parked white Tigor car at around 3:50pm. The car belonged to 76-year-old Randhir who was found dead on driver's seat and a 47-yearold property dealer, Shiv Naresh, was on the front seat, Woman named Laxmi, 40, was found dead in the backseat of the car.
{{/usCountry}}Also read: ‘Talk to us as equals’: Rahul Gandhi's message to Trump over India-US trade deal
The two men, investigators earlier told HT, were residents of Baprola village and knew each other. But they had not been able to connect them to the woman, who was later found to be a resident of Jahangirpuri and worked as a caregiver in West Delhi. She knew the 47-year-old man, police said.
Investigation and the Baba's arrest
As the investigation into the case began, police arrested five people, including Kamruddin as the trio had met him the morning before the incident, police said.
“During inspection of the vehicle, liquor bottles, cold drink bottles, empty glasses, mobile phones, cash, helmets, jackets, Aadhaar cards, personal belongings and other documents were recovered,” police said in a statement.
On the basis of the investigation, police found that the trio had visited Loni day before the incident and had gone their again on the day of the incident. They were in constant contact with Kamruddin who was also with them in the car from Loni and abandoned it near Peeragrahi flyover where the three were found dead on Sunday.
'Laddoos mixed with poison'
Kamruddin had lured the trio on pretext of “Dhanvarsha (Surprise Money)” through tantric rituals. “He would gain the confidence of victims, mentally influence them,” police said. Case details finally came to light when Kamruddin was interrogated.
It was learnt that that Laxmi was introduced to Kamruddin by a person named Salim, a resident of Janagirpuri, and Laxmi in turn introduced Naresh and Randhir to the baba. “He convinced them to perform a “pooja” for “Dhanvarsha” and asked them to bring Rs2 lakh in cash along with liquor and cold drinks,” police said.
Also read: Key revisions made in White House factsheet on US-India trade deal | What's changed
Confessing to his crime, Kamruddin told the police that he prepared poison-mixed laddoos and accompanied the trio in the car and made consume liquor, cold drinks and poisoned laddoos. “After they became unconscious, he took away cash and fled from the vehicle,” police said, adding that accused is a habitual offender and has been previously involved in heinous criminal cases.