Lucknow:

A man in Lucknow hired killers to eliminate his lover’s husband and father, but the hitman killed another man, a cab driver, by mistake. The investigation into the blind murder case led police to the grisly plot. All the three accused have now been arrested. A countrymade firearm, 14 live bullets, three cellphones and a bike used in the killing have been recovered, police have said.

Senior police officer Raveena Tyagi told the media that cops recovered a body in Lucknow’s Madehganj on December 30. The dead was identified as Mohammad Rizwan and a case was registered. “Our surveillance team, Special Operations Group and local police started the probe and three people have been arrested. They are Aftab Ahmed, Yasir and Krishnakant,” she said.

The officer said Aftab Ahmed was the main accused who plotted the killing. “He is in a relationship with a woman. He contacted Yasir and said he wanted the woman’s husband and father dead. Yasir then got Krishnakant into the plan. They reached Madehganj on December 30 night to murder the woman’s father Irfan. Due to mistaken identity or some other reason, they killed Mohammad Rizwan.” 

“We have uncovered this blind murder case successfully and found critical evidence,” the senior officer said.

Lucknow:

The 24-year-old man accused of murdering his mother and four sisters at a hotel in Lucknow has said in a chilling video that he committed the killings because he did not want his “sisters to be sold”. In the video, which emerged hours after the shocking crime, Arshad alleges that neighbours and land mafia in their hometown Budaun captured their house and planned to traffick his sisters.

In the video, Arshad said he killed his mother and three sisters and the fourth was about to die. He also showed the bodies and said he choked them and slit their wrists and that his father helped him.

The victims have been identified as his mother Asma and sisters Alia (9), Alshia (19), Aksa (16) and Rahmeen (18).

“Our family has taken this step due to harassment by people in the neighbourhood. I have killed my mother and sisters. When police get this video, they must know that the locals are responsible. They harassed us to capture our house. We raised our voice, but no one heard. It has been 15 days that we have been sleeping on the footpath, wandering in the cold. We don’t want the children to wander in the cold. They have captured our house. The documents are with us,” says Arshad, who was arrested at the crime scene.

In the video, the young man said the family wanted to convert and appealed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for justice.

He also named several people allegedly responsible for the deaths: Ranu, Aftab, Aleem Khan, Salim, Arif, Ahmad and Azhar. “They are land mafia, they also sell girls. They planned to frame the two of us (him and his father) in a false case and sell our sisters. We did not want that. So I was forced to kill my sisters by choking them and slitting their wrists.”

Arshad then showed the bodies of his mother and sisters. “I may not be alive till the morning,” he said, suggesting that he had planned to die by suicide too. “We are from Budaun, my aunt has proof (of residence) going back to 1947. They spread lies about us that we are Bangladeshis.”

Arshad said in the video that the family wanted to convert to live in peace. “We approached many people for help, but they did not help us. Now my sisters are dying and I will die in a short while. But no family in India should be forced to do this,” he said, requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath for justice. “I request with folded hands, we did not get justice in life, at least give us justice in death. They should get the strictest punishment. They are connected with leaders and police. They captured half of our plot and wanted to capture the other half.”

Arshad also said that a temple should come up on their land and their belongings must be donated to an orphanage so that our souls find joy. “I killed them with my father. What choice did I have? See them being sold in Hyderabad?”

“Ensure they get justice. They struggled a lot today. We have saved their honour,” he said, addressing the Chief Minister.

NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the video.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Lucknow, Raveena Tyagi said the murders were committed at Hotel Sharanjit. “The accused, identified as Arshad (24), allegedly killed five members of his own family. Following the gruesome act, the local police promptly caught the accused from the crime scene,” she said.

Forensic teams have collected samples from the crime scene.