Triple murder case in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar: Cops question 40, zero in on 5

New Delhi: A day after three persons of a family were found murdered at their residence in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area, investigators on Monday questioned around 40 persons and zeroed in on five.

"As many as 25 police teams have been put in this case and the initial postmortem report obtained today suggests that all three victims were strangulated," DCP (Central) Paramaditya said.

A 50-year-old government employee-turned-property dealer Sanjay, his wife Jyoti (48) and son Pawan (21), an engineering student, were found murdered at their third floor residence in Old Rajinder Nagar yesterday.

"We have questioned as many as 40 persons today and zeroed in on five of them, presently considered the prime suspects.

The suspects, including Sanjay's younger brother, are all close to the family," said an official privy to the investigation.

The initial postmortem report suggests the time of death to be close to midnight, which is around three hours after Sanjay was last seen fetching food from a nearby eatery, the official said.

It is also suspected that at least one of the assailants had joined the family over dinner, as four plates with leftover food were found at the crime spot.

However, the victims were given no sedatives or drugs before the attack, the initial report suggests, the official added.

Police further said that they are carrying out technical surveillance and footage from all CCTV cameras near the building are being monitored, though the main camera, which could have directly helped the police in ascertaining the identity of the accused, was found to be dysfunctional.

There are several suspects in the case as Sanjay was an accused in as many as 13 criminal cases and allegedly involved in several property disputes with people, including his younger brother, said police.

He also perceived threat to his life and was a complainant in an attempt to murder case registered following an alleged attack on him by unidentified assailants, police said.

According to police, the matter came to light around 8.50 AM yesterday when the domestic help of the family entered the house and discovered the bodies of Jyoti and Pawan in the apartment on the third floor of a building and raised an alarm, following which police was informed.

A team was rushed to the spot and a murder case registered. The two bodies were on the first bedroom, one lying on the floor, the other on the bed with a stole close to it. The police team found Sanjay missing, with which the needle of suspicion largely pointed towards him.

Soon, a crime team was sent to the spot to trace out intricate evidences and a thorough inspection was conducted in the apartment, during which Sanjay's body was found shoved inside a closet.

"There is a possibility that they were murdered last evening and the information was received today morning. The house was ransacked. So we are taking this angle into consideration," SK Gautam, Joint Commissioner of Police (Central Range) had said.

Gautam did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of someone known to the family.

Investigators so far suspect the involvement of more than one accused in the case and evidences collected so far suggest friendly entry of perpetrators, an official said.