The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday, 1 September, arrested a man, who had faked his death after allegedly killing his wife and two children in 2018 and burying their bodies in the basement of his house in Greater Noida. The police also arrested the accused's father for helping his son cover up the crime.
Teams comprising the Greater Noida Police and the Kasganj Police exhumed the skeletal remains from the site late on Wednesday night, which were sent for forensic examination.
The 34-year-old accused, Rakesh, was allegedly involved in an affair with a woman UP Police constable, which led him to kill his wife and two children and bury them in his house.
The officials said that Rakesh is also accused of murdering his friend, a crime which he allegedly committed two months after killing his family. Rakesh later dressed his friend in his clothes to fake his death. Rakesh also cut off the head and hands of his friend and burned them.
Accused Killed His Friend to Fake Own Death, Got a Nose Surgery to Change Identity
According to PTI, Rakesh placed his identity cards on his friend's body and started living and working in Haryana under a fake identity. He also underwent nose surgery to conceal his identity.
"A man had lodged a missing person's report in February 2018, claiming that his 27-year-old daughter and her two grandchildren, aged three and one, had been kidnapped by his son-in-law Rakesh," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), Central Noida, Ankur Aggarwal.
"The Kasganj police station was informed in April 2018 that Rakesh had been murdered. However, he has been found alive. We have sent the three bodies for forensic examination."
The police initiated the investigation on the basis of the complaint.
"Two months later, an FIR was registered at the Dholna police station in Kasganj district about the murder of Rakesh," Aggarwal was quoted as saying by PTI.
Rakesh's father, who is a retired police official, later identified his son's friend's mutilated body as his son.
Rakesh also remained in constant touch with the woman constable, who is a part of the security team of the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Accused Had Knowledge of Forensics
Rakesh had allegedly been working in the field of pathology for the last eight years.
The police said Rakesh's work in pathology and alleged lover's police connect helped him gain forensic knowledge, which he used to murder his family and friend and hide his identity.
"He had managed to get himself declared dead and was working in Haryana as a labourer. He had also got nose surgery done to hide his identity and changed his overall looks. Meanwhile, the female police constable was in constant touch with the family. The accused used to work as a pathologist. He had good knowledge of forensic science as he managed to bury the bodies in the ground, pour cement on them, and make his friend's body seem like his own," said Kasganj police chief Rohan Pramod Botre.
DNA Report Gave Him Away
Having received the DNA report after three years, the police resumed the investigation in the matter.
Aggarwal said the Kasganj police on Wednesday reached Bisrakh police station in Greater Noida and informed them that Rakesh was alive and they had apprehended him, reported PTI. They later went to Rakesh's Greater Noida house, dug up the basement, and found the three bodies.
"The Kasganj police also informed us that Rakesh, who was accused of kidnapping his wife and two children, had told them that he had killed his family members and buried their bodies near their house in Bisrakh in Greater Noida," Aggarwal said, according to PTI.
(With inputs from Quint Hindi and PTI.)
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