‘Treated like family’: Lajpat Nagar double murder by helper shocks neighbours, co-workers

The accused told investigators that he was humiliated after the woman scolded him for not reporting to work for over a week.

Published on: Jul 4, 2025, 15:34:06 IST

By HT News Desk

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A day after a 24-year-old man allegedly killed his employer's wife and teenage son at their Lajpat Nagar home in Delhi, workers at the family’s shop said he had been a trusted aide and was treated like one of their own.

Police officials outside the house in F Block, Lajpat Nagar I, where the bodies of a mother and her son were found in New Delhi, on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

The man, identified as 24-year-old Mukesh Paswan, worked as a helper at Kuldeep Sewani's garment shop in the Lajpat Nagar market.

On Thursday evening, he entered Sewani's residence and killed Kuldeep Sewani's wife, Ruchika, and her 14-year-old son. Mukesh was arrested from a train on Thursday at around 6am in Uttar Pradesh's Mughalsarai as he was attempting to flee to Bihar.

As reported by Hindustan Times, Paswan told the investigators that he was humiliated after Ruchika scolded him on Wednesday morning for not reporting to work for over a week.

“He was not just an employee; he was around all the time. Ruchika treated him like family,” Rohan, a co-worker at the garment shop, said. Kumar was one of the four employees at the store.

The double murder in Block F of Delhi's Lajpat Nagar-I has shaken the area as well as the city.

Also Read | Brutal double murder of woman, her teen son shakes Delhi: What police uncovered

“Ruchika and Kuldeep Sewani were polite and hardworking. They never troubled anyone,” one of their neighbours, Sunil Varma, told PTI.

Another neighbour, on condition of anonymity, told the news agency that the incident has left the entire block stunned. "The horror that unfolded in their home on Wednesday night has left the entire block stunned," the neighbour said.

The family had been living in the house for over a decade, after shifting from old Lajpat Nagar, and had been running the garment shop since the days of Kuldeep’s grandfather.

Satbir Singh, who runs a garment shop next to Kuldeep’s, told HT the incident shook him. “We will think twice before trusting our helpers,” he said.

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HT News Desk
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