House where four members of a family found dead at Mayur Vihar in Ludhiana. House owner missing while his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson found murdered. (Express Photos by Gurmeet Singh) Four members of a family were found murdered at their residence in Ludhiana’s Mayur Vihar, police said Tuesday. However, Rajiv Sunda, the 60-year-old owner of the house, was not found at home, they said, adding that in a note, he had blamed his son’s in-laws for ‘harassing’ them and wrote that he was killing his family and committing suicide.
However, before he could commit suicide, his son’s in-laws reached the spot following which he allegedly fled in his car, said police. After some hours, police found the car abandoned a few kilometers from the house and it was ‘partially torched’.
A sharp-edged weapon was used to kill Sunda’s wife Sunita (58), son Ashish (35), daughter-in-law Garima (32) and a 12-year-old grandson Saket, police said.
Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said, “A two-page note has been found from the house written by Rajiv Sunda saying that he was killing his family and then committing suicide because his son’s in-laws were trying to implicate them in a false domestic violence case and demanding Rs 10 lakh from them. As a feud began within family, Sunda’s grandson called up his maternal uncle (Garima’s brother) and informed him that his parents and grandparents were fighting. When Garima’s family reached the spot, Sunda fled in his car. We have recovered the vehicle and it is partially burnt. Some locals said that the car had banged into a scooter and it’s tyre had burst. Sunda absconded from there and prima facie he is alive and did not commit suicide”.
Garima’s brother Ashok Kumar, a resident of Haibowal area in Ludhiana, was the first to discover the bodies. He told police that when he reached at the spot, Sunda was driving out of his home and when he asked him what was the matter, the latter asked him to wait. Later, the house was opened with the help of neighbors and the bodies were found.
Additional DCP-3 Sameer Verma said that all bodies had grievous injury marks and an axe was recovered from the spot. “Rest of the details will be clear only after Sunda’s arrest. Probe is ongoing,” said Verma.
An FIR against Sunda was registered for murder under the section 302 of IPC at PAU police station, said Agrawal. Sunda and his son worked as builders and also dealt in property and stock market trading. Agrawal, however, said that no complaint of domestic violence or dowry was pending against the family.
