UP Woman, Three Children Shot Dead, Husband’s Body Found Hours Later

By OB Bureau On Nov 5, 2024

Man Shot Dead By Brother-In-Law In Odisha — Representational image.

New Delhi: The bullet-riddled bodies of a 45-year-old woman and her three children, aged 25, 17 and 15, were found at their home in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Tuesday morning. Since the husband was missing, police suspected he had a role in the killings. However, hours later, the husband’s body was recovered from a construction site. It had a bullet wound and police suspect he died by suicide, NDTV reported.

The family lived in Varanasi’s Bhadaini locality of Varanasi and the deceased, Rajendra Gupta’s home has 20-odd families staying as tenants. This morning, neighbours found the door closed till late. The maid entered the house to find the bodies of Nitu (45), Navanendra (25), Gaurangi (16) and Shubhendra Gupta (15). Rajendra was missing. Hours later, Gupta was found dead too. Police suspect that he murdered his family and then shot himself, the report added.

Before Gupta’s body was found, senior police officer Gaurav Banswal told the media that police found the bodies this morning. “An elderly woman here said a family dispute led to the murders,” he was quoted as saying. The senior cop said Rajendra Gupta was named an accused in multiple murder cases in the past and was currently out on bail. “The condition of the bodies suggests that they were sleeping when they were shot dead. Prima facie, it appears a pistol was used. We have found bullet casings. Police said they would also investigate if a property dispute led to the crime, considering that the family owns many properties. Rajendra Gupta ran a countrymade liquor business, owned 8-10 houses and earned lakhs every month as rent.

According to police, Rajendra Gupta faced multiple cases of murder in the past and was out on bail. In one case, he was accused of murdering his father, brother and sister-in-law. Nitu was Gupta’s second wife and police have been told that they would quarrel frequently. It is learnt that Gupta stayed elsewhere for over a year and had come home for Diwali. Some reports also claim that he was in touch with a tantrik, who led him to murder his family, but police have not confirmed this and said they are probing every angle, according to NDTV.