A 60-year-old stock market investor was found dead on Wednesday in his house in northwest Delhi's Rohini, with police apprehending his niece and two of her associates in connection with the robbery-cum-murder, an officer said.
Rakesh Khanna was found unconscious at his house in Sector 3 in Rohini on Tuesday, with his house ransacked, suggesting robbery when he was alone in the house when the incident took place.
During investigation, it emerged that the accused had learnt that the victim had recently sold some property worth Rs 75 lakh.
"Simran Taneja, niece of the victim, then hatched the conspiracy with her friend Himanshu, a gym owner, with the intention of robbing the cash and valuables," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Shashank Jaiswal said.
They had conducted a recce of the house on Sunday, August 30, before executing the crime, he said.
According to the officer, the accused had also attempted to commit the crime during their earlier recce but failed. They returned on Tuesday and executed the plan.
The officer said Taneja played a key role in facilitating the entry of the other accused into the house.
"Taneja, a resident of Burari, allegedly took Khanna's wife and her own mother to a fair in Paschim Vihar, leaving her uncle alone at home. She later reached the house in an autorickshaw and went upstairs, asking Khanna to open the door, following which the other accused gained entry," the DCP said.
The accused were wearing helmets, caps and masks to hide their identification, he said.
"After entering the house, they overpowered Khanna and pressed his mouth to prevent him from raising an alarm. He fell unconscious during the assault and subsequently died," the DCP said.
The officer said that a PCR call was received at 8.14 pm on Tuesday, reporting a house theft and an unconscious person inside the premises.
"He was taken to Jaipur Golden Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead," he added.
"Prima facie, there were no visible injuries on the body," he added. The officer said that at around 7.30 pm, three persons entered Khanna's house while another associate kept watch outside.
The police said around Rs 72,400 in cash and two gold rings reported stolen from the house have so far been recovered. A preliminary investigation led the police to zero in on Taneja.
The Burari resident has prima facie emerged as the alleged main conspirator behind the robbery and death, which she is suspected to have orchestrated with the help of her associates.
"Two of her alleged associates, Chirag (22), a resident of Burari who works as a gym trainer, and Paras (19), a class 12 student, were also apprehended in connection with the case," Jaiswal said.
Another accused, Himanshu, also a Burari resident is absconding and efforts are underway to arrest him. According to the police, Paras was earlier booked in a criminal case at Mukherjee Nagar police station.
A case under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 309(4) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at South Rohini Police Station. Further investigation is underway to establish the precise role of each accused.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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