Murder in a farmhouse

Around the same time,just six kilometres away from Gill’s Kitchlu Nagar house,Monica Kapila,wife of a city-based hosiery merchant and mother of two,told her family she was going for a kitty party before driving away in her dark grey Toyota Innova from her Model Town residence. Around 7 p.m.,when her daughter called her,she told her she would be home in another 15 minutes. Her phone became “unavailable” after that. Balraj’s wife too tried calling him from 6.30 p.m. onwards but his phone was switched off.

As the evening progressed,both families grew worried. Balraj’s father,retired BSF Commandant Kashmira Singh Gill,started looking for his son around the city. Monica’s in-laws and parents,too,started calling up her friends and acquaintances.

Accompanied by three friends,Gill reached Golf Links on Hambran Road late at night. He knew his son often visited a farmhouse,owned by one Sanjay Agnihotri,in this neighbourhood. At 2 a.m. on the intervening night of February 1 and 2,he entered the farmhouse and found his son’s body lying in a pool of blood.

“I saw him where he was crucified,” he says. In the FIR lodged in the Haibowal Police Station,Gill says he also saw the body of a woman lying inside the bathroom. It was not before late evening on February 2 that the body was identified as that of Monica Kapila. Both Balraj and Monica had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death.

The Chase

Deputy Commissioner of Police,Ludhiana,Ashish Choudhary,has had little time for other things ever since the day of this double murder. Involved in the probe from the beginning,Choudhary not only knows the case inside out but is hopeful of cracking it soon. “I have a hunch that we are very close to cracking it,” he says. Tracing the sequence of events on the day Balraj and Monica were murdered,he says,“Both of them reached the farmhouse between 6.15 p.m. and 6.20 p.m. They had exchanged many text messages through the day and had also called each other. They were there for at least 30 minutes and we are reasonably sure that both of them were alive till around 6.50 p.m,” says Choudhary. “They were killed between 6.50 p.m. and 7.15 pm,” he says,adding that the call detail records of their mobile phones had helped the police establish these facts.

Balraj,says Choudhary,was carrying three mobile phones with him—one was his official number that was available to many people,the second was another official number that not many people knew of and then there was a third one which he used only to talk to Monica. “The first number was switched off at the time of the attack. The second was on but he was not taking any calls on it. The third number was switched off at 6.18 p.m.,after Monica and he reached the farmhouse,” says Choudhary. Balraj’s wife Harinder,as well as everyone in the family,only had the first number.

The attack happened on the lawn of the farmhouse. Police say there must have been at least four assailants. “It seems Balraj was attacked by two people at the same time—one hit him on the head with a blunt weapon,the other person slit his throat after pinning him down. Monica was stabbed on her head,face and shoulders with either a dagger or a knife. Her face,despite a lot of blood on it,was recognisable. She had more than 10 stab wounds while Balraj had many more,” says Choudhary.

Choudhary says the assailants took away the jeans Monica was wearing. “They could have taken it off with an intention to sexually assault her. They could have taken it away to show it to somebody as proof of the murder. They could have even taken it off to wipe the blood off themselves,” he says. The police have sent swab samples for examination.

After the murder,police say the assailants robbed Balraj and Monica of their wallets and mobile phones before fleeing in their cars. It was only on February 5 that both vehicles were recovered—the Chevrolet Optra was found abandoned near Balloki Road (about three km from the farm) and the Innova near the Lodhi Club Road.

“It could be anything from a burglary gone wrong to a contract killing to a crime arising out of professional enmity,” says Choudhary. But he says it doesn’t appear to be the handiwork of professional contract killers.

“The area where the crime happened is very secluded and is often frequented by drug addicts. We have picked up many suspects from nearby areas and are interrogating them,” he says. Sources say over 50 people have so far been rounded up in the area.

The scene of the crime is a farmhouse owned by one Sanjay Agnihotri who,the police believe,had befriended Balraj a few months ago through some of his friends in the district police. Agnihotri,who has also been questioned by the police,earlier ran a lottery business but is now in the business of advertisement hoardings.

Located around 8 km from Balraj’s Kitchlu Nagar house,the farmhouse is surrounded by open fields on all sides. Despite the nine-foot-high boundary wall,it’s not difficult for trespassers to enter because of an incomplete boundary wall on the adjacent plot. Two wrought iron gates open into the farmhouse that has a bedroom,a living room,a kitchen and a toilet.

Investigators now believe there was no “forced entry” into the farmhouse on the day of the murders. The assailants are believed to have entered the farmhouse by “simply turning open the unlocked knob of the main gate”.

A missed call

Following the questioning of many friends and acquaintances of both Balraj and Monica,the Ludhiana police have discovered details which appear to have further complicated the case. Some of Monica’s friends,for instance,identified Balraj as Aman Verma. “It is possible that Monica knew Balraj as Aman Verma. It is also possible that she knew him as Balraj and used a fake name for him while talking about him or introducing him to her friends,” says DCP Choudhary.

Also,both Balraj’s and Monica’s friends have told the police that they first got in touch with each other through a chance “missed call”. “Beyond this,we don’t have much information. It is something which,if at all,happened between two people and both of them are now dead,” says Choudhary. Significantly,the police have found someone who knew both Monica and Balraj. “This person was Monica’s dentist and Balraj’s friend. But he was not aware that both of them knew each other,” says Choudhary.

The fact that Balraj did not carry his service weapon and chose not to take his security guard along that evening has also raised the suspicion that he probably hadn’t told Monica that he was a police officer. Also,Balraj left his house in the car with a driver but he is believed to have dropped the driver off on the way,driving himself to the farmhouse.

The roles of three people—Narinder Pal Singh,who sent the car to Balraj’s house; Surinder Kapila,Monica Kapila’s husband; and Sanjay Agnihotri,who owns the farmhouse—are still being investigated. Despite repeated interrogations,the Ludhiana police have not been able to ascertain if any of them had anything to do with the killings.

According to the police,Narinder Pal Singh,who runs a printing business,had known Balraj for the past three to four years. According to Balraj’s family,hours after he had left,Narinder had called up one of Balraj’s guards to check if he had returned home.

Surinder Kapila,who runs a hosiery business,had been married to Monica for the past 15 years. The “honour killing” theory has put him under the scanner. “He continues to be a suspect till the case is solved,” says Choudhary.

Balraj’s father Kashmira Singh Gill is waiting for justice for his son. On the wall is a framed certificate that Balraj got after he was awarded the President’s Medal for Meritorious Service on August 15,2010. Gill,his gaze fixed on the certificate,fights back tears while talking about his son.

“All kinds of allegations are being levelled against my son. Nobody is talking about the real issue: the murder. Why haven’t the murderers been arrested so far?” he asks. “Balraj’s murder is part of a conspiracy. The name of the woman has been attached to sully his image,” he says.

“He has been called characterless. A characterless person cannot be so affectionate to his family. Also,are all characterless people murdered?” asks Balraj’s wife Harinder.

Balraj’s family suspects that he fell prey to “internal jealousies” in the police department. “That day,he was called by a trusted person who betrayed his trust. Had he suspected anything fishy,he would have been cautious enough to at least carry his service revolver,” says Gill.

Ratan Brar,Ludhiana’s DSP (Crime Wing),says,“He was one officer against whom neither the ruling party nor the Opposition ever had a complaint. People used to feel satisfied if their cases were handed over to Balraj.”

Meanwhile,the Model Town house where Monica lived wears a quiet look. “Our loss is unrecoverable. And to make it worse,we keep reading all kinds of malicious stories,” says a family member. Just three kilometres away,in the upmarket Sarabha Nagar locality,Monica’s parents are in a state of shock. “My daughter is gone. I don’t know how and why it happened. What more can I say?” says her grieving mother.