Domestic help, 3 others held for killing old couple in Ghaziabad on Diwali

Ghaziabad: A domestic help, a businessman and two others have been held for allegedly killing an old couple here, police said Tuesday. The incident took place on the night of Diwali and the deceased were identified as Ashok Zaidka (72) and his wife Madhu Zaidka (70).

The accused, Sunder, their domestic help, hatched the conspiracy to kill them and committed the crime with the help of Amit from his village; Azad, a scrap dealer; Rohit Narula, who owns two multi-storeyed motorcycle showrooms, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pawan Kumar.

Sunder and Amit hail from a village in Karhari district, Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh

According to police, Sunder had complaints about his salary as he was unable to marry off his three daughters due to insufficient funds.

Few months ago, Ashok Zaidka asked Sunder to sign a rental agreement. Before then, he had been living at their house for free. Following an argument over the issue, Zaidka fired Sunder, who felt insulted as his employer used "filthy" language with him. That's when he decided to kill Zaidka, police said.

Sunder called Amit from his village to execute the plan. Azad agreed to participate in the crime as he was interested in a huge hoard of scrap lying in Zaidka's shop.

In the meantime, Sunder came in contact with Narula alias Guddu, who was managing black money generated from Zaidka's rental properties, police said.

Narula assured him to provide monetary help in the weddings of his daughters and encouraged him to take the plan to eliminate the couple forward.

The four accused have been arrested under Sections 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 202 (knowing or having reason to believe that an offence is being committed) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

One hammer and a thin towel have been recovered from Sunder.

The Inspector general of police of Meerut range Praveen Kumar has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 to the team that has solved the crime.

On Thursday, the old couple was found dead in their house in Patel nagar near the residence of BSP MLA Ramvir Upadhyay.

The matter came to light when one of their daughters living in Noida called them up repeatedly and, upon receiving no response from them, alerted her parent's neighbours.