Day after, cops grope in dark

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 18 

Even 48 hours after the murder of four persons of a family at Khatauli village in Barwala block of Panchkula district, the police are clueless about the identity of the killers.

According to sources, the police have picked up Vijay and his mother Lovely for questioning.  Lovely is a daughter of victim Rajbala (68), who, along with her three grandchildren, was killed by the assailants. The needle of suspicion is on Lovely and her son Vijay as people living in the vicinity had seen them leaving Rajbala’s house on Friday at 4.30 pm. Both Lovely and Vijay used to stay mostly at Rajbala’s house. 

The police are also questioning relatives and other persons close to the family to get a clue to the gruesome murders. The sources said the mobile call dump of the area had also been collected by the police to ascertain who all were present in the area at the time of the incident. The police would also collect CCTV footage from poultry farms located in the surrounding areas to get a clue. The police are also trying to trace Sudha, mother of the victim children, who had eloped with somebody. 

The police have sealed two rooms of the house and are not allowing anyone to enter these.

CIA inspector Aman Kumar said they were waiting for the completion of the last rites of the victims after which they would interrogate relatives, especially the woman’s daughters and their family members to crack the case. 

Postmortem revealed that the victims had received nine bullet injuries, while the police had found 12 empty shells of a country-made pistol used in the crime. The assailants had fired twice at Rajbala from a distance to 1 to 2 ft on the head and in between the neck and the shoulder, while her granddaughter Aishwarya was shot in the head and the chest. Divyanshu was shot from a distance of 3 to 4 ft on the head near the ear, while Ayush, the youngest among the victims, was shot from point-blank range near the ear.

SHO Naveen Kumar said the bodies of the four victims were handed over the family for cremation after a board of doctors conducted the postmortem at the Civil Hospital in Sector 6. He said the police would also question villagers and distant relatives of the family in the case. 

Victims were shot from close range

Postmortem revealed that the victims had received nine bullet injuries, while the police had found 12 empty shells of a country-made pistol used in the crime. The assailants had fired twice at Rajbala from a distance to 1 to 2 ft on the head and in between the neck and the shoulder, while her granddaughter Aishwarya was shot in the head and the chest. Divyanshu was shot from a distance of 3 to 4 ft on the head near the ear, while Ayush, the youngest among the victims, was shot from point-blank range near the ear.