5 days on, murderers of Kullu homestay owner still out of police reach

Dhani Ram, 65, who is currently undergoing treatment at the regional hospital, in his statement, said that three guests staying at their homestay in Rasol village, located in the Manikaran valley, killed his wife, Gangi Devi (60), and strangulated him before robbing them of Rs 60,000 on the night of January 7. He mentioned that the assailants left him for dead and fled with the stolen money.

Dhani Ram said that the CCTV camera at their property was not functioning and the assailants had intentionally cut the CCTV and electricity cables before carrying out the crime. Sources said that three masked individuals were captured in a CCTV footage from a nearby house in Chhalal village, while leaving in haste in the wee hours next morning of the incident.

Authorities are currently reviewing CCTV footage from Jari, Parla Bhuntar and Bhuntar. Apart from this, mobile numbers that were active in the region at the time of the crime are also being tracked. Kullu SP Karthikeyan Gokulachandran refrained from providing further details, stating that the matter was under investigation.

Despite five days having passed, the police has no clue about the criminals.

According to the information, two of the suspects had been staying at the homestay since January 6, while the third guest was present on the night of the incident. The guests have since gone missing, and the police are trying to trace their whereabouts.

The elderly couple ran a four-room homestay near Rasol, and this is the first such incident in the area, raising concerns among hospitality unit owners, particularly those in remote rural locations run by elderly or small families.

The Manikaran valley has only one access road, but the police have made no breakthroughs in the case so far.