Man shoots dead wife, brothers-in-law in fit of rage

Accused arrested; neighbours say they locked themselves up in rooms on hearing gunshots

In a horrific case of a triple murder in northwest Delhi’s Shakurpur area, a 43-year-old man shot dead his wife, two brothers-in-law and injured his sister-in-law late on Sunday.

The police ascribed the crime to a marital dispute between the accused, Hitendra, and his wife, Seema, whom he is believed to have physically assaulted frequently. 

Senior police officers said that the incident took place at 11 pm when a few members of Seema’s immediate family - her mother, two brothers-in-law and her sister, who live in Vinodpuri - came to the accused’s house in Shakurpur in order to confront Hitendra, for repeatedly assaulting Seema.

At around 11:25 pm, police received a PCR call at Subhash Nagar police station regarding firing inside a house near Yadav Market in Shakurpur. On reaching the spot, police found the bodies of four persons - the accused’s brothers-in-law Surendra, 36 and Vijay, 33, and his 39-year-old wife Seema and sister-in-law Babita.

Police rushed all the injured persons to the Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini, where Vijay, Surender and Seema were declared brought dead, while Babita, who sustained a gunshot injury on her leg, is undergoing treatment. The police officers said that all the three deceased were shot in their heads.

DCP (Northwest) Usha Rangnani said that a case of murder has been lodged and the accused has been arrested after he surrendered before the police. The weapon of offence, a revolver, has been recovered from the accused, the DCP said.

The accused’s 65-year-old mother-in-law Chandrakala, in her complaint, has alleged that Hitendra started beating her daughter ever since they got married in 2001.