Cracking the gruesome killings of seven members of a businessman's family in Ghaziabad two days ago, Uttar Pradesh Police Thursday arrested the family's former driver who confessed to the murders, police said.
Inspector General (IG) of Police Bhavesh Kumar told reporters here that Rahul Verma, 21, employed as driver, was sacked after businessman Satish Chandra Goyal suspected and accused him of stealing Rs.4.5 lakh from his house about 15 days ago. The IG said Rahul killed the entire family in a fit of rage.
Stating that Rahul, son of a goldsmith who had also been a student of animation and did not have any criminal past, wanted to steal money to meet his daily expenses during unemployment days, the IG said Rahul loaned Rs.1 lakh to a friend from the money he stole from the businessman's house about a fortnight ago.
Ghaziabad's Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari said Rahul entered the businessman's house at 7.30 p.m. and came out after 9.30 p.m. The SSP had earlier claimed that the killer remained in the house for only about 30 minutes.
The driver came to work Tuesday but did not report back for duty the next day when the murders came to light. A police team was put on his trail and caught him late Wednesday, Tiwari told IANS.
Police said that Rahul was arrested from the city's BM Compound while he was planning to flee. During interrogation, Rahul broke down and confessed to the crime, said the SSP, adding that he told the police that a few of his friends were also involved in the seven murders.
Tiwari also said that 10 stolen articles, including some jewellery, have been recovered from Rahul's possession. Police are now trying to recover the Rs.1 crore that went missing from the house of the Goyals.
Prior to calling the press conference, police had called a meeting of representatives of political parties here to convince them that the genuine killer has been arrested.
However, the representatives started raising slogans during the meeting, claiming that police have arrested an innocent young man for the sensational case of multiple killings. Responding to the allegations, the police said the case has not been closed yet and that further facts may emerge during the course of their probe.
Goyal, wife Manju, son Sachin, daughter-in-law Rekha, and grand-children Megha, Neha and Aman were found murdered in their Nayi Basti house in Ghaziabad Wednesday morning.
All markets in the city remained close Thursday to protest the brutal slaughter of the entire family.
Following the incident, local police station chief Lallu Lal Maurya has been suspended.
