Bodies of couple, 3 children found in Bhajanpura house

NEW DELHI: The decomposed bodies of a couple and their two sons and a daughter were found at their rented house in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura on Wednesday, the police said.

Officials registered a case of murder but are also investigating if Shambhu Choudhary, a 43-year-old e-rickshaw driver, murdered his wife and three school-going children before killing himself. A relative alleged that the family had been murdered.

“We are checking the CCTV cameras installed in the neighbourhood. The bodies are so putrefied that it is not possible to see the nature of injuries,” said Alok Kumar, the joint commissioner of police (eastern range).

He said the bodies were sent to a government hospital, where autopsies will be conducted to find out the cause of the deaths. The police suspect the family might have died about a week ago.

Around 11.30am, the police control room got a call complaining of a foul smell coming from a

POLICE ARE PROBING IF

SHAMBHU CHOUDHARY, AN E-RICKSHAW DRIVER, MURDERED HIS WIFE AND HIS THREE CHILDREN BEFORE KILLING HIMSELF

house, Ved Prakash Surya, the deputy commissioner of police (northeast), said.

Policemen reached the place and broke open the main entrance — an iron gate — which was locked from the outside. The family stayed in two rented rooms on the ground floor of a two-storey building. The other entrance to the section used by the family was bolted from inside.

The ground floor of the building has two more rooms, which are occupied by eight street vendors. Four of them have been taken into custody, the police said. The police are questioning them as to why they did not notice the stench and why they did not raise an alarm even after not seeing the family for the past five-six days. Choudhary’s body was on the floor and his wife Sunita’s body in the bed in a room, DCP Surya said. Their three children — Shivam (17), Sachin (14) and Komal (12) — were found on the floor in the adjacent room.

Prime facie there were no signs of ransacking, but Choudhary’s mobile phone was missing, according to the police. Sanjeev Gupta, a local resident, said, “It’s not that we did not get the smell... we never imagined that the stench was coming from dead bodies. Most of us thought that some rats died in Choudhary’s house. Since the gate was locked, we believed that the family had gone somewhere.” Another resident, Manju Devi, said, “...a property dealer having an office opposite the building realised that the stench was becoming stronger and called the police.” The police said that the family belonged to Supaul in Bihar and they came to Delhi about two decades ago. The police informed Choudhary’s brother, Raushan, who lives in north Delhi’s Burari, and other relatives about the deaths.

“My brother spoke to our parents around 15 days ago. Neighbours told us that they last saw the children returning from school on February 3. I don’t know how they all died,” Raushan said. Relatives said that the children studied in a government school in Yamuna Vihar.

Choudhary’s uncle, Munna , alleged that the family was murdered. “I saw all the bodies. The children’s bodies were stacked and their room was full of dry blood. My nephew did not have any financial issue or any issue with his wife or children. So there is no chance of him killing them. It’s a murder.” He said Shivam was blindfolded when his body was recovered, but the police did not confirm this.