18-year-old arrested for murder of two senior citizens

A teenager has been arrested for the alleged murder of a 92-year-old man and his 62-year-old daughter-in-law at their bungalow in Central Delhi’s East Patel Nagar area more than a month ago, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Deepanshu (18), worked as the <g data-gr-id="38">car-washer</g> for the family. His father worked as a gardener in the same bungalow. “He went missing after the incident and was tracked at his maternal grandmother’s house in Rae Bareli. By the time a police team could reach there, he had already left for Delhi. He was arrested from his residence on Wednesday morning,” said Parmaditya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central). 

During interrogation, it emerged that Deepanshu was an Akshay Kumar fan — more inspired by Akshay’s negative roles. He was allegedly obsessed about living a lavish life and murdered the owners of the house expecting that he could lay his hands on huge amount of cash after the act, but he failed, ultimately settling for around Rs 25,000 cash and a mobile phone, said a senior police official. According to the police, the incident was reported on June 14. It turned out to be a blind murder case and the cops were clueless. 

“We worked on four different potential leads — role of an insider; role of a service provider like a washerman, milkman, gardener, driver or domestic help; burglary gone wrong; and personal enmity with any third party. Different teams were formed accordingly,” said Parmaditya.

During interrogation, Deepanshu reportedly told the police that on June 14 morning, he had washed his employer’s car and waited for him to leave the residence. Once he left, he entered the bungalow through the main door and picked up a pair of scissors on his way. He first allegedly tried to strangle Shanti Devi (62). But when she screamed, he allegedly stabbed her to death with the scissors.

 

Hearing Shanti scream, her father-in-law, Sewa Ram, rushed downstairs to check. Deepanshu attacked him too with the same pair of scissors, which was recovered by a police team, said a cop. He then started looking for cash in every corner of the house and finally fled with Rs 25,000 and a mobile phone, through which he was finally tracked down, said a police official.