In a sensational incident reported during lockdown, five members of a family, including two women and two children, were found dead under mysterious condition at their home in Etah on Saturday morning.
Senior officers along with local police rushed to the spot and forensic experts were pressed into service for collecting evidence that could lead to the killers.
As per reports, residents of Shringar Nagar Colony in Kotwali police station area found a stench emanating from the house of a retired government employee that was locked from outside.
Later the police were informed and a team reached there. The police used gas cutter to cut the iron door of the house to gain access.
But as they entered the premises, they were shocked to see five bodies lying on the floor.
The neighbours identified the deceased as house owner Rajeshwar Prasad Pachauri (65), his daughter-in-law Divya (40), her younger sister Bulbul Upadhyaya (25) and Divya’s 10-year-old son Aarush and Chhotu (10 months).
Bulbul of Mathura had come to stay with her sister a few days back.
Preliminary investigation revealed that all five could have been murdered as blood strains were found on the bodies of Rajeshwar and Divya. Divya’s husband, Diwakar Pachauri, was out in Roorkee where he has been working with a pharmaceutical firm.
Rajeshwar had retired from Health department some years back.
Etah’s Senior Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar Singh said that the incident could also be a case of suicide as no forced entry was seen and some blades and sulphas tablets were recovered from the house. However, he did not rule out foul play.
A case registered and investigations were on in this regard.
Reacting to the Etah deaths, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu condemned the killing of Brahmins that too when the nation was celebrating Parshuram Jayanti on Saturday. “Despite lockdown, the manner in which criminals are freely striking and eliminated five of a Brahmin family in Etah shows that law and order has completely gone out of control,” Lallu said.
