A man who had been convicted of murder in Bahraich district has been arrested along with his wife for allegedly killing his mother-in-law and her two sons in the Gwaltoli area of the city, police said today.
Zakir alias Rashid was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his first wife in 1997 but jumped parole six years ago to escape to Kanpur where he was living under an assumed identity and working as a caretaker in a leather workshop, SSP Yashaswy Yadav said.
The body of an elderly woman and two youths had been found on March 6 inside the workshop with suspicion turning to the caretaker of the unit and his seven-month pregnant wife who were untraceable after the incident.
The bodies were later identified as being of Zakir's mother-in-law Zenab (52) and of her two sons, Ibrahim (27) and Riyaz (25), following which police yesterday traced the caretaker and his wife Shakila to their native Bahraich.
Police said Zakir had eloped with Shakila, his second wife, from Bahraich and it was to carry her daughter back that Zenab had arrived in Kanpur along with her two sons.
But the trio got into an argument with Zakir on March 6 following which he attacked them with a rod before slitting their throats with a sharp weapon.
Police said they have recovered the rod and the sharp weapon used to commit the murders along with a country-made revolver and some cartridges from the accused.
