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Saturday, Apr 21, 2007
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Triple murder in South Delhi flat

Staff Reporter

A brutal end for elderly couple and teenage son

BELIEVE IT OR NOT: Shocked neighboures watch the scene of murders in South Delhi on Friday. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI: An elderly couple and their teenage son were found brutally murdered in their flat at Ghari in South Delhi on Friday. No arrests have been made in the case so far.

According to the police, unidentified assailants stabbed 60-year-old Chhote Lal Yadav and his 50-year-old wife Shanti Devi several times and strangled their son Rohan alias Deepak with a belt early on Friday morning. The bodies were found lying in the drawing room of the third floor flat when the police reached there around 8 a.m. after being alerted by neighbours.

"Chhote Lal usually got up at 3 in the morning and switched on the booster pump so that his tenants could fill water. He would then open his general store on the ground floor of the four-storey building. But this morning he neither started the pump nor opened his shop. When the tenants got up around 7-30 a.m., they grew suspicious and went upstairs to inquire. The door was ajar. When they entered the flat, they found the bodies lying in the drawing room. Some pieces of bangles were scattered in the room suggesting resistance," said Sampooran Singh, a neighbour.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi) Anil Shukla said: "We are probing all possible angles, including personal enmity."

Since entry to the flat was friendly and Chhote Lal owned a large number of properties, his relatives have come under the scanner, said the police, adding that several teams have been sent out to his native village in Uttar Pradesh.

Chhote Lal owned four flats in the building valued at around Rs. 1 crore and some property in neighbouring Faridabad as well.

According to a neighbour, his insurance policy was to mature soon and he was expecting to get some six to seven lakh rupees. "Around a week ago Chhote Lal told me that his insurance policy was about to mature. He said the bank people had really made him run around for the money. I think he had got the money," the neighbour said, adding that Chhote Lal also organised a party at his house a few days ago and some of his relatives were present.

Chhote Lal earlier worked with Clutch Auto Limited in Faridabad and had taken voluntary retirement a couple of years ago and opened the general store. He had married Shanti some 20 years ago after his first wife Chander died within a few months of the marriage. The couple was childless and had adopted Deepak when he was just three months old.

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