Days after claiming that a 45-year-old businessman in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur allegedly murdered his mother, wife, and three minor children, before dying by suicide, police made a U-turn in the narrative on Thursday, saying that his brother had instead conspired and committed the crime. Six people — Anurag Singh, his mother Savitiri Singh (62), wife Priyanka Singh and their children Arna Singh (12), Ashvi Singh (10) and Advik (6), were found dead in Palapur village on Saturday. The post-mortem reports state that all the six victims had injuries consistent with a hammer, but Anurag, Priyanka and Arna also sustained bullet wounds. Anurag had two bullet injuries to his head. Anurag’s brother, Ajeet Singh, has now been arrested and booked for murder, the police said. During investigation, police recreated the crime scene, collected evidence, including blood and DNA samples, other evidence from the two-storey house, recorded statements of local residents, verified the statements of Ajeet Singh, the police said, adding, that they recovered a hammer and a countrymade pistol allegedly used in the crime from Anurag’s room. Suspecting foul play in the case, the police started probing the role of Ajeet (37), a teacher at a government primary school and his wife Vibha Singh. “Ajeet Singh has now confessed to the crime. During the probe, the role of no other persons has been found so far,” Tarun Gauba, Inspector General, Lucknow Range. Ajeet used to stay with his wife in Mahmoodabad, near Palapur, while Anurag along with his mother, wife and children resided in Lucknow. Anurag was visiting Palapur with his family. During interrogation, Ajeet revealed that his father, Virendra Singh, who died around a year ago, had a loan of Rs 24 lakh. A dispute arose among the brothers over the loan repayment. “Anurag had assured Ajeet to settle his portion of the loan from proceeds earned by selling crops. However, on May 10, when Ajeet visited Palapur, his mother Savitri and sister-in-law Priyanka informed him that Anurag had failed to fulfill his commitment. Feeling deceived and enraged, Ajeet decided to take drastic action against Anurag,” stated a police officer. “On May 10, Ajeet disconnected the power supply of the house at 2 am. Taking advantage of the darkness, he shot Priyanka dead, then attacked Savitri, who came after hearing the commotion, and then killed his brother Anurag,” the police further said. As per police, Ajeet attempted to manipulate Anurag’s daughter Arna Singh into believing that her father had perpetrated the tragic events. However, the children raised an alarm for help. “Ignoring their pleas, Ajeet callously took the children to the terrace, where he shot only Arna, and then threw all of the 3 children down. He then resumed his assault on children lying on the ground,” police said. Subsequently, Ajeet contacted his wife, relatives, and local residents, concocting a fabricated narrative that Anurag had committed the horrendous acts before ending his own life. Despite his efforts to deceive, locals found two children alive and rushed them to the hospital, who died on reaching the hospital, the police said.
