Woman, 16-yr-old girl shot dead during robbery in Ghaziabad; two suspects arrested

Ghaziabad: A 32-year-old woman was shot dead and her three minor children were seriously injured during a robbery incident at their house in the Saraswati Vihar locality on Saturday night. The children’s tutor, a 16-year-old girl, was also killed by the suspects, police said.

Hours after the incident, the Ghaziabad police arrested a 35-year-old woman and her 25-year-old male friend for the double murder and robbery, senior officials said, adding that cash and jewellery were recovered from the two suspects. Police have also recovered the pistol that was allegedly used in the crime.

The deceased were identified as Dolly Thakur and Anshu Kumari, who was also Dolly’s former tenant, police said.

The suspects have been identified as Uma Singh, a resident of Lal Quarter area of Ghaziabad, and her friend Mohammad Sonu, a native of Badaun who stayed in the same locality. Police said that the female suspect is a distant relative of the deceased woman and she, along with her friend, hatched a conspiracy to rob the victims.

Police said that Uma and Sonu visited Dolly’s house at Saraswati Vihar, which comes under the Masuri police station area, around 8.30pm on Saturday. Dolly was in the house with her three minor children while Anshu, a resident of the same locality, was teaching the children. Police said that Anshu was a student of class 9 at a private school in Ghaziabad.

“The two suspects entered the house of the victim (Dolly Thakur) where they had tea and then overpowered those present in a room at gunpoint. Sonu shot Dolly in the abdomen and the tutor in the head. Thereafter, he inflicted severe injuries to Dolly’s three minor children with a knife and grinding stone. Leaving them for dead, both fled the house,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural).

Dolly’s three children -- twin girls, Gauri and Minakshi aged nine years, and son Rudra aged five years -- suffered severe injuries, but survived, police said.

The incident came to fore when Dolly’s husband, Mahesh Thakur, and her father-in-law returned from their work around 9.30pm on Saturday. They run an eatery joint at Chopla Market in Ghaziabad and had shifted to their current residence at Saraswati Vihar during Diwali last year.

“The suspect woman had estranged relations with her husband who now stays in Aligarh. She had come to know that Thakurs were planning to sell their house and received some initial amount while their business was also doing well. So, she planned the robbery with her friend,” said a police officer investigating the case.

Mahesh Thakur, Dolly’s husband, said, “The suspect woman is in our relation. We had no enmity with her, and she was trying to get money with the help of her friend. She had come two days ago to our shop and also enquired about the shop’s opening/closing timings. She knew that we will be at the shop during that time. They took away about ₹5 lakh in cash and some jewellery items from our house.”

Police deployed five teams to trace the suspects after Dolly’s family lodged a complaint against unidentified persons for murder, attempt to murder and robbery.

“The most important clue was given by one of the two girls who told that ‘Amma’ had visited the house. The children used to call the suspect woman with this name. When we visited her house, she was present and revealed the plot to us,” the SP said.

“Meanwhile, her friend (suspect Sonu) was trying to flee the city and was spotted near Dasna by one of the police teams. He opened fire at police personnel and sustained an injury to his leg in a retaliatory firing by police,” Raja said, adding that the case will be fast tracked in court and testimony of children will be of prime importance against the suspects.