Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

4 bodies, 3yrold survivor in afternoon ‘killing spree’

PATAUDI MURDERS The lone surviving member of the family has become the prime witness

- Leena Dhankhar leena.dhankhar@hindustant­imes.com ■

GURUGRAM: Three-year-old Naksh walked into his home in Brijpura village, Pataudi, after school on Wednesday to find his parents and grandmothe­r brutally murdered.

His father, 29-year-old Manish Gaur, was stabbed 32 times on the head, face and chest. However, it was four cuts on the neck that eventually led to his death. His grandmothe­r, 61-year-old Phoolwati, was stabbed multiple times and suffered head injuries that led to her death.

This was revealed in the autopsy report conducted on the couple and the grandmothe­r – Manish and his wife 23-year-old Pinky, and Phoolwati. The accused is the boy’s uncle, who – according to the forensic report – murdered them between noon and 3pm on Wednesday. According to the police, Naksh’s oneyear-old sister was still alive when he walked in, but she too was injured. She died later that night in a hospital. Now the lone surviving member of the family, Naksh has become a prime witness in the case. T

he police said the child was in a state of shock and slept next to the body of his father. When they entered the house, 43 kilometres from Gurugram, around 8.45 pm, Naksh got up and went near the body of his grandmothe­r. “The child told us that his uncle had killed his father and grandmothe­r, and he was a ‘bad uncle’,” said Gurugram police commission­er KK Rao .

In the twist to the tale, forensic test revealed Pinky died due to hanging, but it was not clear whether she was killed and hanged or committed suicide.

“Nothing can be ruled out,” said Deepak Mathur, a forensic expert who conducted the postmortem examinatio­n. Her hands also had injury marks.

Rao said the neighbours saw the accused exiting the house around 3pm. “The boy may have seen his uncle inside the house. He may have hid in a corner, and the accused may not have seen him,” the commission­er added.

Naksh is now living with his relatives and is, naturally, in a state of shock, the police said.

The accused, Pinky’s cousin, was living with the family for the last 15 to 20 days. A murder case was registered against him and is being interrogat­ed. The police have refused to share the name of the accused fearing tensions in the village. “There is a possibilit­y that he murdered the family over a property dispute, as he had threatened to kill the family in a panchayat meeting the previous day, after Pinky was reportedly assaulted by Manish,” the Gurugram commission­er said.

 ?? PARVEEN KUMAR/HT ?? ■ The house where the four bodies were found in Pataudi’s Brijpura village.
PARVEEN KUMAR/HT ■ The house where the four bodies were found in Pataudi’s Brijpura village.

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