An army man, conferred the Vir Chakra for gallantry in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, was smothered to death at his West Patel Nagar residence in Central Delhi allegedly by four persons including two of his servants, police said.
Rohit Sethi, 65, was found dead at his residence this morning. He lived there along with his 93-year-old mother and ran a PG accommodation in the house.
Sethi had retired from the army as Major. In the 1971 war, as Second Lieutenant Sethi commanded the platoon of 9th Gorkha Rifles and led it during an attack on an area in the Western Sector.
The accused, identified as Pintu Yadav (27), Arun Yadav (26) and Ravi Yadav (21), a servant, have been arrested and a juvenile servant, who was hired by Sethi just four days ago, has also been apprehended.
According to police, the incident came to light around 7 AM when a PCR call was received regarding theft at house number 5/28, West Patel Nagar. When police team reached the spot, Sethi was found strangulated in his bed.
The house was found ransacked and articles were lying scattered. The juvenile servant was also found missing. A case was registered and three separate police teams were formed and special staff of Central district was also roped in to crack the case.
"The servant, a native of Bihar employed four days ago did not leave any information regarding his identity as Sethi had not got his verification done. However his mobile number was found. On the basis of technical analysis and collecting information from local sources the teams were able to nab all the four accused persons. Almost all the stolen articles have been recovered at the instance of the accused persons," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Central) Alok Kumar.
During interrogation, police learnt that it was Ravi who had hatched the entire conspiracy.
"Ravi had been working as caretaker of the PG accommodation since the past two years. He was aware that the deceased was residing alone in the house with his aged mother. Finding them an easy target to make easy money, he hatched a plan to rob the owner of the house," said Additional Deputy Commissioner o Police (Central) Ashok Malik.
Ravi roped Pintu, Arun and the juvenile in the conspiracy. The juvenile got an employment in the house as cook cum house keeper with the help of Ravi. As part of his conspiracy, details or photograph of him were also not provided to the owner, he said.
"Last night, Ravi and the newly employed servant bought sedative tablets from a chemist and gave them to the owner in his food. When he fell fast asleep, the servant opened the back door to facilitate the entry of his associates Arun Yadav, Ravi and Pintu Yadav into the house. All the four accused persons then strangulated Sethi and robbed the jewellery items from the almirah of the house and fled from the spot," said Kumar.
Sethi's son works in Singapore while his wife is in England. His mother was in another room when the incident took place, police said.
