Today claimed to be close to cracking the blind double murder case
The police today claimed to be close to cracking the blind double murder case of 65-year-old senior journalist KJ Singh and his 92-year-old mother Gurcharan Kaur.
Sources said the case had almost been cracked as the police had zeroed in on certain acquaintances of the victims as suspects, but was avoiding coming on record in this connection. Inspector General (Crime) Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, who is heading the special investigating team (SIT), said there was some development. However, she did not reveal anything.
“Our teams are working on scrutinising the CCTV footage and call details in the case. We are sure that there will be a result in a day or two,” said the IG (Crime).
A senior police official said on condition of anonymity that they had zeroed in on certain suspects. “We are working on two-three theories, including a property angle and some relation, in the case. “We have zeroed in on certain suspects in this regard. Certain facts are being verified,” said the official, indicating that the case was on the verge being worked out.
After the cremation of both victims, Mohali SP (Detective) Harbir Singh Atwal, along with DSP Alam Vijay Singh and Inspector Sukhwinder Singh, reached the victims’ residence to record the statements of some close relatives again.
Atwal said they recorded the statements of some close relatives of the victims this evening as some facts needed to be verified again.
Apart from the SIT, teams of the Mohali police have been constituted to investigate the case.
Call details
KJ Singh’s mobile phone, which the assailants took along, was switched on till around 9.15 pm on Friday. The last call, which lasted 280 seconds, was made by KJ Singh to his elder brother VP Singh at 7.27 pm on Friday. After that two messages from the service providers were received on KJ Singh’s mobile phone at 8.49 pm. Ajay Pal, nephew of KJ Singh (who had gone to give lunch to his uncle on Friday), claimed that he too had sent some jokes to his uncle around 9.15 pm the same day. “My messages were delivered to him but these were not seen. My uncle used to come online within 10 minutes normally but that wasn’t the case on Friday,” said Ajay Pal. The police claimed that 14 phone calls were made/received by KJ Singh on Friday. “There was no call to/from any unknown person. Apart from the calls, the details of his phone showed some messages, most of which were sent by the service provider,” said the police. The mobile phone of Gurcharan Kaur, which was also taken away by the miscreants, was found switched off. The police said she received a call from her daughter around 12.15 pm on Friday.
CCTV footage
According to the police, they have procured the footage of two CCTV cameras so far. The police are waiting for a neighbour, who is out of station, to return to get the footage from a third CCTV camera. Sources said the footage of one of the cameras showed rain. “We are checking the movement of any vehicle or the Ford Ikon car which was taken away by the assailants after the crime,” said the sources, adding that they were hopeful of getting some vital information from the CCTV footage.
Cremation
KJ Singh and his mother were cremated around 1.30 pm at the Mohali cremation ground on Sunday. The last rites were performed by KJ Singh’s elder brother VP Singh. The Media Adviser of Capt Amarinder Singh expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the Chief Minister. Apart from close family members, a number of journalists from the tricity were present at the cremation ground. Earlier, the police handed over the bodies of the victims to the family after the postmortem around 12 noon.
KJ’s last chat with brother
According to family members, during his last chat on the phone with his elder brother VP Singh on Friday, KJ Singh talked about some person keeping an eye on his house for at least for “two and a half hours”. “He (KJ) told him (VP Singh) that a person was keeping an eye on the house since 4 pm and remained there till he (KJ) locked the main gate around 6.30 pm,” said Yashpal Kaur, KJ Singh’s younger sister. She said KJ Singh had also told her about somebody having thrown a thin but sharp iron rod in the house around 15 to 20 days ago. “He told me that when he came out to check, he found nobody there,” said Yashpal Kaur, adding that had her brother apprised the police of both incidents, the lives of her mother and brother could have been saved.
No clue of KJ’s Ford Ikon
The police have no clue of KJ Singh’s green Ford Ikon car, which the miscreants took along after the crime. Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the police had no clue of his car. “The car is still untraceable,” said Chahal.
Gate lock mystery
While family members claimed that KJ Singh used to lock the gate of the house from inside around 6.30 pm every day, the police claimed that they found no lock on the gate. According to Rekha, the domestic help, she came around 9 am on Friday. She rung the door bell several times from outside the gate of the house, which was found closed.
Multiple stab injuries
According to the preliminary postmortem report, KJ Singh received multiple stab injuries, between 14 and 17, with some sharp weapons while his mother was strangled to death. According to a member of three-member medical board, which conducted the postmortem of the victims on Sunday, the victims seemed to have died between 2 am and 4 am. On multiple injuries on KJ Singh’s body, the doctor said one stab injury was close to his heart. “His throat was also slit. He was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and abdomen. Besides, three fingers of his right hand were also found cut. He had multiple cut marks on his arms, hands and other body parts,” said the doctor on condition of anonymity. The final report of the postmortem would be submitted to the police on Monday.
3 suspects seen in the locality
At least three criminals are suspected to be involved in the crime. An eyewitness saw three persons standing near the Ford Ikon car of KJ Singh around 9 pm on Friday, the day of the crime. The eyewitness told the police that one of them was smoking. The police are scrutinising the CCTV footage to get further clues in this regard.