Prayagraj: The sensational murder of four members of a family in Prayagraj was cracked on Wednesday with the arrest of the prime accused, Sunny Gupta, a 35-year-old samosa vendor.The bodies of Virendra Vaishya (70), his wife Anita (65), and daughter Meenakshi (40) were found in their home in South Malaka on Tuesday, while his son Abhishek (38) was found murdered inside his locked shop.Police claimed that Abhishek, who had been disowned by his family, along with Sunny, committed the triple murder to loot jewellery and cash. Later, however, Sunny allegedly killed Abhishek following a dispute over the booty. Police recovered looted jewellery worth Rs 2 crore and cash from Sunny.DCP (City) Maneesh Shandilya told TOI that Sunny runs his samosa shop near the shopping complex-cum-residence of Virendra Vaishya. Abhishek and Meenakshi also had their shops on the ground floor of the complex.Sunny was friends with Abhishek, who had been disowned by his family and stripped of his share in the property. Sunny told police that Abhishek, who was under heavy debt, hatched the conspiracy to eliminate his family and steal jewellery and cash.Police said that on May 31 afternoon, Abhishek called Sunny to his shop, where they had beer and food and decided to execute the murders in the evening.“When Meenakshi came downstairs to open her shop around 5 pm that day, they attacked her and killed her with an iron rod. The duo dragged her body upstairs and dumped it near the door of the first-floor house. They then entered the house and bludgeoned the elderly couple,” the DCP said.Abhishek and Sunny then took out clothes from the almirah and threw them on the floor to make it appear like a case of robbery. Abhishek also scribbled “Bunty, Babli aur Bahu ne mara” on the wall to frame his jailed brother Ashwani and his wife Ritu, whose nicknames are Bunty and Babli. The couple had been jailed in a fraud case, and Ritu is currently out on bail.Later, Abhishek and Sunny reached the former’s shop to share the booty but got into an argument. Sunny then allegedly killed Abhishek with the same iron rod used in the triple murder.Sunny then allegedly poured detergent and bleaching powder on the bodies of Abhishek and Meenakshi. He also cleaned the floors with water and detergent and hid the looted jewellery in his samosa shop.As Sunny was wearing Virendra’s clothes and shoes, he went back to the latter’s house to pick up his slippers. He then threw the bag containing the stolen jewellery on the rooftop of his shop. The booty was later recovered by the police.
