Murder-robbery at elderly couple’s house: Two more held, third accomplice on the run

A senior police officer said, “Tatwal is from Madhopur while Singh’s wife is also from there. So that’s how they knew each other and soon after he learnt that the senior citizens stay alone in Tardeo, he informed him about it after which he roped in Meghwal and his third accomplice and accordingly hatched a plan to commit a crime.”

The police said the trio even came to Tardeo to do a recce in the following months.

On August 8, the trio left from their respective districts in Rajasthan and after spending a couple of days on the outskirts of Mumbai, they checked in to a hotel near Dhobi Talao in south Mumbai on August 11.

The investigators added that on August 12, the three accused had gone to Yusuf Manzil in Tardeo to commit the crime. However, as the 75-year-old Madan Agarwal had already stepped outside and locked the door, they decided to postpone it.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Akbar Pathan (zone III) said, “The three accused went there a little early on August 13 and as soon as Agarwal opened the door to go for a morning walk, they pushed him inside and tied his hands and legs. They even stuffed their mouths before taping it.”

They even went to the bedroom and did the same thing with Surekha. However, she died due to suffocation.

The police followed the suspects through the CCTV footage through which they came to know that they were in Pune.

“A team was subsequently sent to Pune and after searching at bus depots, we came to know Singh had gotten off from one of the buses in Ujjain,” said an officer adding, “Later we got information about him, his native place and also that he runs an eatery shop at Jhalawar.”

Accordingly, the probe agency laid a trap and arrested him.

Singh during his questioning revealed Tatwal’s role and said he had tipped them off about it and he was supposed to get 50 percent of the stolen goods. While the rest of the stolen ornaments were to be distributed among the other three accused.

“We recovered nearly 1,818 gram gold from Singh but as the complainant has alleged that gold ornaments, cash and other valuable worth Rs 2.69 crores have been stolen, we believe that the rest of the stolen booty is with the one who is still absconding,” said an officer.