Barwala murders: Daughter wanted to grab Rs 50 lakh, land

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 21

In the sensational Barwala murders, eldest daughter Navita, alias Lovely, has confessed to her involvement in the murder of her 68-year-old mother Rajbala and the latter’s three grandchildren to grab Rs 50 lakh and agricultural land on November 16.

Lovely, in her confession to the police, stated that she had hired two Uttar Pradesh-based contract killers with the help of her relatives living there. She said the killers had demanded Rs 15 lakh for the job, but the deal was settled for Rs 10 lakh. She had paid Rs 10,000 in advance. She told the police that she, along with the contract killers, came to the house on a motorcycle at 11 pm and left the house after 4.30 am after carrying out their nefarious design. She said a country-made pistol was used in the crime.

Meanwhile, the Chandimandir police produced Lovely in the court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Harleen A Sharma and demanded seven-day police custody. However, the court sent Lovely to police custody for five days.

DCP Kamaldeep Goyal said Lovely was changing her statement in the case and the real motive behind the crime would be known after interrogating her. She had also demanded her share in Rs 2 crore received as compensation from the administration for 6-acre land acquired in Panchkula.

Sources in the police said Lovely was nursing a grudge against her mother Rajbala since 2006 as she had refused to transfer the property in her name. They said she had planned to kill her mother and the latter’s grandchildren as the latter had transferred a part of the property in the name of the grandchildren in January this year, which had not gone down well with Lovely. The victim had also refused to transfer Rs 50 lakh of the total Rs 2 crore received as compensation against the land acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority.

Investigating officer and SHO of the Chandimandir police station Naveen Kumar said they were suspecting the involvement of Lovely from day one as she did not pick up the phone. He said Lovely, who was living at Bitta village near Ambala, reached the crime scene five hours after the police came to know about the incident. He said they had launched a manhunt to nab Lovely’s husband Raj Kumar, who had been hiding since the cremation of the victims on November 18.

Naveen Kumar said they were also questioning the other three daughters of Rajbala and were also planning to interrogate UP-based relatives of Raj Kumar. He said Raj Kumar might have helped in arranging the contract killers.

He said if anything incriminating came to light regarding missing Sudha, mother of the victim children, during the interrogation of Lovely, they would reinvestigate the case. He said in the case of suicide by Sudha’s husband Upinder, the family had cremated his body without informing the police.