Kanpur: A 55-year-old woman, identified as Nirmala, wife of Harendra Singh, a retired lecturer at Bhartiya Vidyalaya in Keshav Puram, Awas Vikas-1, was murdered in broad daylight after she resisted robbery in Keshav Puram.Police arrested the accused, a former acquaintance identified as Aryan alias Ishu Srivastava (19), and recovered looted gold jewellery weighing 153 grams, valued at approximately Rs 26 lakh, from three different locations in his direction. Police are interrogating the accused.Harendra Singh had gone to a medical store to purchase medicine at the time of the incident and learnt of the murder upon his return.After the robbery and murder, DCP (West), ADCP (West), ACP and the inspector of Kalyanpur police station reached the spot with police personnel and carried out an investigation, examining nearby CCTV cameras. A forensic team and dog squad also reached the spot.The CCTV footage showed a suspicious young man wearing an orange scarf entering the house and exiting after some time. The tracker dog followed a trail to the other end of the park, then back through the lane and onto the road.DCP (West) SM Qasim Abidi said subsequently police launched an investigation and questioned nearly a dozen close associates of the elderly couple, including their domestic help. The accused youth was later arrested from the Rawatpur area. Looted jewellery was also recovered from three different locations based on his directions.Police said the accused had complete knowledge about the couple. The investigation revealed that he had been living on rent for the past 5 years at the other end of the park opposite the lecturer’s house. About one month ago, he had devised the robbery plan, after which he vacated the house and began residing in Rawatpur.During his stay in Keshav Puram, the accused met the lecturer and his wife multiple times in the park. Both of them knew him well, and he sat and conversed with them for hours. During this period, he became acquainted with their financial status. On one occasion, when he visited the lecturer’s house to fetch water, he spotted Nirmala wearing jewellery, which corrupted his intentions.Police said that the accused knew that lecturer used to return home about an hour after leaving, and he conducted a recce one month in advance to confirm this. On the day of the incident, he was already present in the park. As soon as the lecturer stepped out of the house, he got the door opened on the pretext of retrieving a drone from the roof and entered the house. Instead of heading toward the staircase, he followed Nirmala into the room, grabbed a Tulsi Mala and strangled her from behind. To ensure Nirmala did not survive, he strangled her again, took the jewellery and fled.Police interrogation revealed that accused Ishu Srivastava was employed in a private job but wanted to become wealthy quickly. He was also reportedly troubled by demands from a female friend.Police said the accused had chosen three locations to hide the looted jewellery. Some jewellery was concealed in his rented room, some was hidden in a garbage dump behind Kesco in Awas Vikas, and the remaining was hidden in Vijay Nagar.
