Police officer’s motherinlaw murdered in posh Jaipur locality
: An 84-year-old woman, mother-in-law of a senior police officer in Jaipur, was murdered by armed robbers in a posh area of Jaipur early on Saturday, apparently after a failed bid to break into an IAS officer’s house.
The woman, Pushpa Besariya, was stabbed with a sharpedged weapon on her neck, leading to her death, police said. Besariya, a widow who was living with her 25-year-old grandson Shaurya Besariya, was the mother-in-law of assistant superintendent of police (ASP), special operations group, Sanjeev Bhatnagar, who stays next door with family in Mansarovar area. Besariya’s son and daughter-in-law live in Delhi.
A police officer who did not want to be named, said: “The woman’s grandson, Shaurya, said that around 1.30am, three persons entered their house. They tried to break the lock of the main gate but when they failed, they broke the grills of the window and entered the room of Pushpa and started attacking her. When he (Shaurya) tried to intervene, he was held captive by the trio at gun-point, after which they fled the spot stealing valuables worth lakhs of rupees.”
Around 6 am, Shaurya freed himself and ran to his aunt’s house next door and police was alerted. “The incident took place around 3am and we have formed a special team to investigate the case,” said Vikas Pathak, deputy commissioner of police (South). The body was sent to Jaipuria Hospital for postmortem.
A blood-stained screwdriver was also recovered from the spot, police added.
A while before the incident, the criminals tried to break into the house of IAS officer RC Meena in the same locality. However, their attempt was foiled by the alertness of Meena’s nephew, Vijay, 24, who was studying in a room, police said.
Vijay said: “I saw three miscreants entering our house and I started shouting, on which they ran away. The trio was wearing undergarments only and their faces were covered. I informed the police about the incident. Police reached our home within 10 minutes.” The PCR van patrolled the area and left.
The murder that took place in an area 300 metres away from an MLA quarters and inhabited by officials from the judiciary, police and bureaucracy has sent shock waves across the city.
Several police officers from the special operations group of Rajasthan Police, Crime Branch, police commissionerate and local police station rushed to the spot.
CCTV footage from the cameras of the neighbouring house has images of three persons wearing undergarments entering the house at 1.50am. Police suspect that the criminals belong to the nomadic ‘Chaddi Baniyan’ gang, which is known to commit crimes in their underwear. The entrance gate to the locality where the incident took place had no guard.
Police said a few months ago, a judge who was questioned by the guard on his return late night to the colony had got him sacked.
Former chief minister and AICC national general secretary Ashok Gehlot said the murder of the elderly woman was very unfortunate.
In a tweet, he criticised the BJP government in the state for failing to manage the law and order situation.
ROBBERY Police suspect criminals belonging to the nomadic ‘Chaddi Baniyan’ gang behind incident JAIPUR