Gurugram / Couple murdered by friend they invited to dinner, son watches them die

A senior associate of a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm and his wife were found stabbed to death at their rented house in Dundahera, near Udyog Vihar, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the police said. The couple’s seven-year-old boy was in the room at the time of the murders and awoke to loud shrieks, but was unhurt, the police said.

Police arrested a former colleague and a friend of the man, who had worked with him at the BPO four years ago and had visited them for dinner on Wednesday night. Police said prima facie, the motive for the crime is suspected to be a financial dispute. A case of murder was registered against the man, Abhinav Aggarwal, on the statement of the victims’ family.

The deceased have been identified as Vikram Singh, 35, and Jyoti Singh, 32. Vikram had been working at a BPO in Shankar Chowk, at the back-end of a healthcare process. Jyoti was a homemaker. The couple, natives of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, had been staying at the rented house near Tanwar Market for over a decade with their son and Vikram’s younger brother, Shailendra, who drives an autorickshaw.

Police said according to the complaint filed by Shailendra, the incident took place at 3.55 am, when he was at his cousin’s house, in a lane adjacent to his house.

Shailendra said that Aggarwal came to their house on Wednesday night to discuss a financial issue. “Two years ago, Abhinav had duped them of Rs. 1.5 lakh, promising a job abroad. Vikram had been asking him to return the money. After several excuses, he came to our house at 9.30pm to settle the issue. They both went to the roof and started drinking beer, while I went to my cousin’s house nearby for dinner and slept there. At 3.55am, we heard a commotion and went to check. My brother was lying in a pool of blood in the hall on the second floor of the house and my sister-in-law was lying on the stairs upstairs. Both had stab wounds,” he said.

They were taken to the Sector 10 government hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

Birem Singh, the assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Udyog Vihar, said that as per a preliminary probe, the suspect first stabbed Vikram, in his sleep, around 3.30am. “He resisted and his wife woke up due to the melee. She ran out of the room. The suspect ran after her and stabbed her in the staircase. Their boy had woken up and ran downstairs. The suspect tried to escape but could not open the main gate as it was locked,” he said.

Police said it is not clear if the woman ran out of the room and left her son behind. A police officer, privy to the investigation, said that the murder weapon is yet to be recovered.

Ajit, the landlord’s grandson, who lives on the ground floor and one of the first to reach the crime scene, said that he saw a third person in the stairway when he went up to check and got hold of him.

“One of the women in the family woke up to get water around 4am and heard a scream. She alerted everyone. Vikram was bleeding on the floor in the hall and Jyoti was lying on the stairs with bloodstains in the hall and stairway. A man, who I assumed was visiting them, was standing there and with the help of others, we handed him over to the police. He could not escape as the main gate downstairs remains closed and only personnel on night duty have the keys,” said Ajit.

Shailendra said that his nephew woke up to his father’s loud shriek. “My nephew said that he saw blood oozing from his father’s chest as his feet trembled. He started crying due to which his mother woke up. She ran out of the house. My nephew said the landlord’s family asked him to come downstairs to be safe. He witnessed the incident,” he said.

The boy is now staying with his maternal aunt in the city.

Harish, who lives downstairs from the couple’s residence, said that in the past three years, it was the first time he had seen the suspect.

Deepak Mathur, the forensic expert, who was part of the board that conducted the autopsy, said the man sustained four stab wounds — two on the chest and one each on shoulder and elbow — and his wife sustained two wounds on her chest.

“The wounds have been inflicted with a sharp object. The injuries on the man suggest signs of struggle. We have sent the viscera samples to the forensic laboratory,” he said.

A case was registered under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC at Udyog Vihar police station on Thursday.