Two of family clubbed to death, year later still no suspects

To reach the first floor of the house, one has to pass through a few more grills and little iron gates. One has to open double locks before entering any of the bedrooms.

All this came after the family saw two brutal murders and a dacoity. Masterband owner Desraj Sharma and his daughter-in-law Aparna were killed by unidentified assailants last year. His three sons (Sanjay, Rajiv and Anil) and his eldest daughter-in-law (Hema) were critically injured. The police pointed a finger at the elusive criminal tribes visiting the Capital from villages in Madhya Pradesh. The case is now being investigated by the Crime Branch after the Anand Vihar police failed to make any progress. Surviving members of the Sharma family, however, have lost faith in the police. They feel the case will never be solved and will be shifted from one agency to another without any progress.

Recounting the sequence of events on that night, the Sharmas say all that they remember is a searing pain they felt when they were hit on the head with freshly cut branches. Within seconds, they had lost consciousness. Only Rajiv Sharma had managed to call the police before collapsing on the floor.

Everything went blank thereafter. The next thing they know is the moment when they woke up in a ward in Apollo Hospital to be informed about the two deaths in the family. The assailants had entered the compound by jumping over the boundary wall. Using an iron rod, they had pried open the front door lock. One of them knocked at Rajiv and Aparna’s bedroom door. “Is that Sanjay?” Rajiv asked. There was no reply. Instead, the assailants broke open the door and hit the couple on their heads. Aparna died on the spot.

Their three-year-old son Suvansh woke up to his mother’s screams. He ran to his uncle’s room for help where he found both his uncle Sanjay and aunt Hema lying in a pool of blood. His cousins Sonakshi and Devansh sat in a stupor. The three children ran to the lobby where they found Suvansh’s father Rajiv calling up the police before he fell unconscious on the floor. When the police arrived a few minutes later, they found the children crying.

A case of murder and robbery was registered at the Anand Vihar police station. One year later, the case is now with the Crime Branch and the police are nowhere near solving it. The Anand Vihar station house officer Ashok Kumar was in-charge of the investigations. SHO Kumar is currently on leave. Additional SHO Kali Ram Malik said,“The modus operandi indicated the involvement of a criminal tribe. The use of fresh branches to bludgeon the victims to death, the use of a sariya to pry open the locks and the appearance of the assailants supported our line of investigation.”

Even the Crime Branch has not been able to make any significant leads. When Express Newsline contacted DCP (Crime) Karnal Singh, he asked: “Which Masterband murders? I don’t remember anything. I will have to look into my files. Give me a few days to look into it.” Sources at the Crime Branch disclosed that the police are still following the criminal tribe angle but have not been able to come up with anything significant.