New Delhi:

Cracking the case of the grisly murder of a couple and their 23-year-old daughter in South Delhi’s Neb Sarai in a few hours, the police have said that the killings were carried out by the couple’s son, who had claimed to have been on a morning walk at the time.

The son had not only alerted the police about the murders but also allegedly called up his uncle and informed him. Officials said he had stabbed his family to death in their sleep because he had been “humiliated” by his father and had found out that his parents intended to leave their property to his sister. The police said he had been planning the murders for a while and had decided to carry them out on his parents’ wedding anniversary. He has now been arrested. 

The bodies of Rajesh Kumar, 51, his wife Komal, 46, and their 23-year-old daughter Kavita were found in their house in Neb Sarai on Wednesday morning. Rajesh and Komal’s son, Arjun, 20, had claimed he had left for his morning walk around 5.30 am and found the bodies when he had returned. 

The couple was celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary and neighbours who had seen the bodies had said that Rajesh, Komal and Kavita were stabbed in the throat. A neighbour said Arjun had told them he had left for the walk after wishing his parents a happy anniversary. 

After the bodies were recovered, the police checked footage from CCTV cameras, which convinced them that no one from outside the family had entered the house, Joint Commissioner Of Police Sanjay Kumar Jain said. There were also no signs of forced entry into the house and nothing was stolen or ransacked. 

Mr Jain said that, on further investigation, Arjun’s version seemed suspicious as there were many contradictions in his statements. He said Arjun was taken into custody and confessed to the murders after “sustained examination”.

Motive

Arjun did his schooling at Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan and is a second-year Bachelor of Arts student at Delhi University. He is also a trained boxer and represented Delhi in a boxing event, where he won a silver medal.

Mr Jain said Arjun told the police that his father, Rajesh, was an ex-serviceman and scolded him regularly about academics and chores. Rajesh, the officer said, had also shouted at and thrashed Arjun and “humiliated” him in front of his neighbours recently. Arjun also felt no one supported him in the family, which had led him to harbour a grudge against his parents and sister.

Arjun also felt neglected and isolated, Mr Jain said, and flew into a rage when he found out that his father wanted to leave his property to his sister in his will.

“He premeditated the plan to eliminate his family members. He chose December 4 since it was the marriage anniversary of his parents. To create a web of deception, he went out at 5.30 am to have an alibi,” a statement by the Delhi Police said. 

‘Unimaginable’

The family, originally from Haryana, had moved to Delhi 15 years ago to ensure better academic and career opportunities for the children. 

“It’s a horrific incident. Yesterday, I saw the mother and daughter on their terrace, talking and laughing. Today, they’re no longer alive. Crime has become so common, but experiencing it first-hand has completely shaken me,” Himani, a neighbour, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“The mother-daughter duo were approachable and kind to everyone in the colony. It’s unimaginable that something so tragic could happen to them,” another neighbour, Anjali, said.

AAP Attacks Centre

Before the murder was cracked, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi had attacked the Centre, which controls the Delhi Police, and accused it of failing to ensure the security of residents in the National Capital. 

“There was a triple murder in Neb Sarai this morning. Murders are happening in broad daylight in Delhi, bullets are being fired, and drugs are being sold openly. The central government has only one responsibility in Delhi – to provide security to the people of Delhi. They have completely failed in their responsibility,” she posted on X. 

Former chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who had liquid thrown on him – a serious breach of security – during a ‘padyatra’ in Delhi on November 30,  also lost no time in hitting out at the Centre. 

“Three murders in the same house in Neb Sarai… This is extremely painful and frightening. Every day, Delhiites wake up to such frightening news. Criminals have been given a free hand, and law and order has collapsed. Homes are being destroyed, innocent lives are being lost. And those who are responsible are silently watching all this happen,” he wrote on X.