Delhi man arrested for killing son says he was plotting for four months
54-year-old man arrested for murdering son before wedding to protect daughter-in-law's future. Planned for months, hired help, fled after crime.
The 54-year-old man — arrested on Thursday for allegedly murdering his 29-year-old son hours before his marriage — has said that he committed the crime so the “life of his would-be daughter-in-law was not ruined”, police officers aware of the matter said on Friday.
According to the officer, the suspect, identified as Rang Lal, had been planning his son’s murder for the past four months and had hired three men for ₹1.5 lakh to help him execute the plan. Lal was arrested on Thursday, while the three other suspects are currently on the run. Police said the three have been identified but refrained from revealing their names.
The victim Gaurav Singhal’s body was discovered by his family with stab wounds at their newly constructed building in Devli Extension in south Delhi on Wednesday night. Police said Singhal was murdered hours before his wedding.
“Lal had developed animosity against his son because he was unhappy with the latter’s extravagant lifestyle, disobedience, and discourteous behaviour. Lal was also annoyed because there was discord in his own marital life and his two sons only supported their mother,” an officer said, asking not to be named.
“Lal was looking for people who could help him in executing the crime. He first contacted his former employee, who already knew about the differences Lal had with his family members, and offered him money to join him in the crime. After much persuasion, the employee agreed and he included his two friends... ₹75,000 was paid as the token amount. They stabbed Gaurav more than 15 times with a pair of scissors and attacked him multiple times with a pestle,” said Ankit Chauhan, deputy commissioner of police (south).
Police said Singhal, who owned a gym, had also slapped Lal on one occasion after which he felt humiliated. “Lal said he did not want to punish the would-be bride with the problems which is why he killed his son before the wedding,” added DCP Chauhan.
On Wednesday night, Singhal was dancing during his wedding celebrations when Lal’s former employee informed him that Lal was looking for him around 9pm. Singhal accompanied the employee to the newly built building where his father was waiting.
“He met Lal on the first floor, and soon an altercation broke out about the gold items they had to carry for the wedding. As Lal started hitting Gaurav, the three men attacked him with the scissors and the pestle. They dragged his body inside the room and locked it. Lal collected nearly 900 grams of gold worth over ₹50 lakh and nearly ₹15.50 lakh cash and left the building with the trio,” said a third investigator.
Lal boarded an auto and went to the Delhi-Gurugram border from where he boarded a bus and left for Ajmer and then he left for Jaipur. “We tracked Lal’s journey through CCTVs. Lal was arrested there and he confessed to the crime. Efforts are on to nab the three other suspects,” added Chauhan.