Property, not illicit affair, may be motive for killings
SARSA(KURUKSHETRA): A man allegedly shot dead three of his cousin brother’s children at sarsa village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra this weekend because he was eyeing about 12 acres of farmland owned by their father, police said on thursday.
the property motive gave a dramatic twist to the gruesome triple murder as the suspect, Jagdeep Malik, had initially alleged that the children’s father, sohan Malik, or sonu, asked him to kill them to clear the way to marry a woman with whom he was suspected to be having an extra-marital affair.
Jagdeep had told police that sonu promised to pay him handsomely after his second marriage.
But police were not convinced with Jagdeep’s alleged confession when he was arrested after the bodies of 11-year-old sameer, simran and samar, aged eight and three, were found in a forest in Morni on tuesday, nearly 110km away from their village.
26-year-old Jagdeep, father of a three-year-old child, was remanded in police custody as investigators suspect he was hiding the truth.
sonu, a photographer who runs a studio in Kaithal, was also questioned at length but the cops have no evidence to implicate him. According to officers investigating the murders, the case remains open-ended.
“Jagdeep said he killed sonu’s children, but he has changed his statement two-three times. He said sonu had asked him to kill his children and fixed up a country-made pistol for him. But now he is saying he killed sonu’s children for his property and had arranged for a gun himself,” a senior officer said.
Police are also investigating the death of Jagdeep’s younger brother, who committed suicide two years ago.
sonu and Jagdeep’s families live opposite each other, with a street running in between. Jagdeep is said to be a “reserved person”. the families are maintaining cordial relations even after the murders as Jagdeep’s wife, rekha, their son and his sisters are staying in sonu’s house for the past two days. “I want maximum punishment for the killer,” rekha said sitting next to suman, the three children’s mother.