Six murders in Sitapur:
Six lives were brutally ended inside a home. The police arrived on the scene. After their investigation, they stated that out of the six individuals, five had been murdered and the sixth person took their own life after murdering the others. It seemed as if the case had been solved, but with the arrival of the postmortem report, it was revealed that the sixth person had not just one but two gunshot wounds on their head, along with evidence of hammer blows. This complicated the entire scenario. Let's delve into the nightmarish tale of this mass murder mystery.
May 11, 2024, Palharpur, Sitapur
Sitapur's quaint village of Palharpur was shaken on a Saturday, the 11th of May, when six members of one family perished together. The son of the household, his wife, their three young children, and the elderly grandmother were all found dead. Initially, relatives and police believed it to be a case of murder following a suicide, executed by the family's son due to mental distress.
The postmortem report altered the narrative
However, as 24 hours elapsed, the postmortem report arrived and overturned the entire story. The person initially thought to have killed his entire family and then himself with a gunshot was found to have sustained not one but two bullet wounds and had also suffered hammer-inflicted injuries. Could a person really shoot themselves twice, along with striking their own head with a hammer?
The mystery surrounding the deaths of six individuals in the village of Palharpur, Sitapur, is a perplexing one. Now, let's narrate the chilling sequence of events that unfolded in this horrifying incident.
The children were found with broken limbs
On the morning of May 11, villagers awoke to a horrific scene in front of this house. Three little children were found writhing in pain on the ground, crying out for help. They were identified as 12-year-old Aarna, her 8-year-old brother Aadvik, and 7-year-old sister Arvi, all lying bloodied. At first glance, onlookers couldn't understand what had happened to these children, as their hands and feet appeared to be broken. Some villagers tended to the injured children while others bravely entered the house, discovering a scene far worse inside. The remaining three family members were found lifeless, including Anurag Singh, the elder son of the house, his wife Priyanka, and the 65-year-old grandmother Savitri.
Source: aajtak
One by one, the family is decimated
Then the question arose, what unfolded in this household during the night between May 10 and 11 that stirred the killer to exterminate the entire family one by one, sparing not even the children? This was now the most pressing and significant question. As news reached them, police arrived at the scene and eventually found Anurag Singh's younger brother, Ajit Singh, who lives in a different house not far from Anurag's place. Ajit claimed ignorance about the massacre, recounting only that Anurag was arguing fiercely with his wife Priyanka on the night of the incident.
The true story behind the deaths of these six people remained a deep mystery.
Anurag accused of murder and suicide
Post initial questioning, the police hypothesized that Anurag Singh, suffering from psychological troubles and battling addiction, had killed his mother, his wife, and their three children before taking his own life. Initially, both Anurag and his wife Priyanka had gunshot wounds to their heads while the grandmother and the children had been bludgeoned with a hammer.
A shocking revelation in the postmortem report
A day after the murders, the postmortem report unearthed shocking details - Anurag's head bore the entry and exit wounds of two bullets. One bullet had entered the right temple and exited through the left cheek, while the second bullet entered the left temple and remained lodged inside. Additionally, hammerstrike marks were found. This posed the question: how could a person shoot themselves multiple times and also hit themselves with a hammer? Clearly, this was not a case of murder-suicide but of outright murder by another hand.
Death's macabre dance at midnight
With the postmortem report, the case completely turned on its head. What was initially believed to be a matter of five murders followed by a suicide now emerged as a terrifying story involving six murders. In this disturbing narrative, the murderer didn't just use a firearm but also a hammer as a weapon, even throwing three children from the rooftop of the two-storied house. Yet the question remained: how did such a heinous act occur in the middle of the night without anyone becoming aware?
Source: aajtak
The motive behind the six murders?
On-site witnesses said they immediately took the three children they found on the ground to the hospital. While one child was still breathing upon arrival, they later succumbed to their injuries. Inside the house, they discovered Anurag's body on the first floor, battered with bullets and hammer blows; further on the veranda lay his wife Priyanka, and Anurag's elderly mother, Savitri, was slain in her room. Since this was not a case of 'murder for gain,' a natural question arose - what could be the motive behind such a heinous act?
Anurag's brother-in-law Ankit reveals the mystery behind the six murders
The key to unlocking this mystery was provided by Anurag's brother-in-law Ankit, based in Lucknow. Ankit suggested that Anurag's younger brother, Ajit, committed these murders out of greed for ancestral property. He formally accused Ajit in a police report and suggested that others might have been involved, as it seemed improbable for a single individual to kill six people at once. According to Ankit, Anurag had an ongoing property feud with his brother, who, driven by his covetousness, massacred the entire family.
Uncle denies transport for the injured children
Following the tragedy, when villagers saw the children lain battered in front of the house, they asked Ajit for his vehicle to rush the kids to the hospital. Ajit hesitated and refused to provide the car, presumably to ensure the children's demise. Eventually, two children thrown down from the roof were also pronounced dead. Alongside this allegation, Ankit questioned the approach of the Sitapur police - why did they hastily conclude that Anurag had committed the murders and suicide without a full investigation or the postmortem report, especially as there were two gunshot wounds on Anurag's head.
The murderer left no one alive
Forensic investigation so far corroborates that Anurag Singh had two bullet entry wounds on the head, and one of the bullets was found inside, both from a .315 bore handgun. With the blackening around the entry wounds, it is confirmed that Anurag was shot at close range. He also had marks of being struck by a heavy object, possibly a hammer, indicating that the killer was determined not to leave him alive.
Source: aajtak
Shot, hammered, and children thrown from the roof
Similarly, his wife Priyanka was shot and her face disfigured, while the elderly Savitri had severe blows to the head. Much like his approach with the adults, the murderer aimed to kill the children by shooting one and throwing two from the roof.
Scene of crime potentially tampered
At the scene, the police found the hammer close to Priyanka's hand, while the handgun used in the killings was discovered under the bed, a distance away from Anurag's body. If this was truly a case of murder followed by suicide, where did the hammer near Priyanka's hand come from, and why was the gun far from Anurag? It appears the murderer tried to fabricate the crime scene, derailing the police investigation - and to a certain extent, they were successful.
Anurag, the farmer
Let's look at Anurag and his family's life. Anurag resided in his village and farmed approximately a hundred bighas of land, while his wife Priyanka worked for an insurance company in Lucknow. Priyanka lived in a flat in Lucknow with their children, often visiting the village to see Anurag. Anurag's father had passed away earlier, and besides his elderly mother, he had only one brother, Ajit, who lived close to their house.
Anurag and Priyanka loved their children deeply
Ajit initially claimed to the police that his brother, unemployed and distressed, often argued with his wife, and it might have led to the murders. However, Priyanka's friends in Lucknow contradicted this, asserting that Anurag cherished his wife and children and would never harm them.
How did no one notice such a big incident?
While Anurag's house was situated slightly apart from other village dwellings, the question still stands - how did such a catastrophic event unravel in a family home without anyone noticing? Could the victims have been drugged prior to their murders? For now, it's clear that this is not a straightforward case of murder and suicide, but rather a massacre with an untold motive still waiting to be revealed.
