A 20-year-old Delhi University student, a state-level boxer, allegedly slit the throats of his parents and sister in the early hours of Wednesday at their home in South Delhi’s Devli village. The victims, police said, were Rajesh Kumar (51), an ex-Armyman, his wife Komal (46) and their 23-year-old daughter Kavita. The accused, Arjun Tanwar, police said, was the one who made the PCR call. He has been arrested, said police. “At 6.53 am, he (Arjun) called police saying someone had snuck inside their flat and murdered his parents and sister. He claimed he had gone to the gym and found the bodies when he returned,” DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan told The Indian Express. “During questioning, Arjun began giving contradictory statements about the chain of events. For instance, he changed the time when he left home for the gym, the time he returned to find his family dead,” the police officer said. “He also kept changing his statement on how he discovered the bodies.” Finally, the case was cracked when “the forensics team found bloodstains on the house and motorcycle keys, which were in Arjun’s possession,” the DCP said. “Once confronted, he admitted to it,” a senior police officer said. The story that emerged didn't have any twists. “He had been nursing a grudge against his family,” he said. “He told police that his parents didn’t like him boxing because they thought he had abandoned his studies. Arjun is a student at Moti Lal Nehru College, where he was admitted under the sports quota (in the BA Political Science course). He wanted to become a professional boxer. He also told police that his parents had become closer to his sister who they thought was a good student and obedient child,” a police officer, privy to the questioning, said. Arjun represented Delhi in a boxing competition and won a silver medal. However, the achievement wasn’t enough to convince his parents to support his dreams. “Kavita was always good at studies. Rajesh and Komal wanted their son to be like her. Despite him being good at boxing, he was always compared to his sister,” a police officer said. Things came to a head on Wednesday morning, the day of his parents’ wedding anniversary. Arjun found out, police said, that his parents had decided to transfer the ownership of their property to their daughter. “The family owns a two-storey building where they lived. They also owned a plot in Gurgaon’s Harsaru,” a police officer said. “The father had apparently beaten him up in front of relatives recently. Arjun also fought with his parents on December 1. It was his sister's birthday and the family had gathered to celebrate.” “He had chosen this day for the murder as it was his parent’s anniversary. This was the level of his anger,” a police officer said. A case of murder has been registered at Neb Sarai police station. What happened on Wednesday? Based on the alleged statements of Arjun and other evidence, the police claimed they had established the chain of events. “On Wednesday at 5 am, Arjun took his father’s service knife and slit his sister’s throat while she was asleep on the ground floor of the (two-storey) house,” said Joint CP (Southern Range) Sanjay Kumar Jain. Arjun then went to the top floor of the house, where his father was sleeping. “He put his hand on his father’s mouth and slit his throat to stop him from making any noise. He then waited outside the washroom for his mother. As soon as she came out, he covered her mouth with a cloth and cut her throat as well,” a police officer part of the investigation said. Arjun now needed an alibi. He decided to do what he does every day — go for an early morning workout session. “After killing his parents, around 5.30 am, he locked his house and went to Sanjay Van. He then came back, unlocked his house and called the police,” said Joint CP Jain.
