Triple murder: Lover, friend arrested

The deceased were Saira, her daughters Mehrunisha (19) and Shabnam (9). A police officer privy to the investigation said that after killing the three, Raheesuddin, the main accused sat and watched TV in the house for around two hours. After killing Saira in the second floor room, he again started watching TV. However, when the smell started spreading, he hid her body in the bathroom.

According to senior police officers of the North-east district, Raheesudin, alias Haider, was madly in love with Mehrunisha. When he got to know that she was having an affair with other boys, he planned to eliminate her. Coupled with this one side love, Saira was allegedly threatening Raheesudin to give her Rs one lakh or she would frame him in a false case, said the Investigating Officer.

On June 5, neighbours and locals informed police about a foul smell emanating from Saira’s house which was locked from outside. On inspection, police saw that Mehrunisha and Shabnam were found lying in the first floor while the body of Saira was found in the bathroom on the second floor.

Police said that they had questioned more than 100 persons and were going through the Call Detail Records of the three victims. Corroborating it with the version of the neighbours that Mehrunisha was frequently seen with a youth, police scanned through Mehrunisha’s phone records and started tracking Raheesudin.

With the help of local intelligence, police found out that Raheesudin went to Nainital for Jamaat — a religious congregation. Teams were sent to nab him and after sustained efforts, he was apprehended from his house in Delhi. On his instance, Javed, who was Raheesuddin’s friend and a party to the murders, was also apprehended from his house in Delhi.

“Javed called Mehrunisha telling her that he is Raheesuddin’s friend and that they are ready to pay Rs one lakh to them. As planned, Javed called her outside the house. In the meantime, Raheesuddin went inside the house and stabbed Shabnam who had opened the door. Sensing something suspicious, Saira came out and she too was stabbed by the butcher knife,” said the investigating officer.