Woman, two daughters found murdered in posh Patna locality

Patna,(BiharTimes): A woman in late 40s and her two daughters, aged 19 and 12 years, were found murdered at their house at Indrapuri under the Patliputra police station of Patna on Saturday morning.

The killings came to light when a family acquaintance, Yogendra, reported to the police to inform that he had seen their bodies when he went there in the morning.

While the bodies of Alina Singh and her younger daughter Purnima were found lying in a pool of blood in one room and that of the eldest daughter Sonali in another room. The police reached the spot at around 9:30 in the morning.

According to SSP Amrit Raj the police suspect the criminals used a hard and blunt weapon to hit Alina and Purnima while Sonali’s throat was slit. He said there were no signs of forced entry into the house while the door in the rear was found open.

DIG (Central Range) Sunil Kumar said prima facie it appears to be a case of hate crime.

Purnima was in her school uniform when the crime took place. She was a Class-VI student in a local school and Sonali, a second-year student of BA (History Honours), Magadh Mahila College.

Alina, according to the police, was the second wife of Gopal Sharan Singh, 65, a retired accountant of a state government undertaking. Singh along with Rinku, his eldest son from first marriage, had left Patna for Delhi by Rajdhani Express on Friday evening.

“Theirs was not a planned trip as they had not reserved berths,” a police officer was quoted in the media.

Police sources said property dispute could be the reason behind the murders.

Singh has two sons from his first wife who died 22 years ago. He then married Alina who bore him three daughters. The eldest daughter, Kamali, is married to Ajit Kumar of Rajendra Nagar in Patna. Rinku along with his wife and children lives in Delhi where he runs a coaching institute. His younger brother, Chintu, also lives with him.

Yogendra reportedly told the police that he went to the Singhs house on the request of Gopal Sharan who called him on his cellphone and told him that his calls to home were going unanswered.

Police said it has seized a bottle of alcohol, a lunch box and the furniture of the house. Nothing was looted from the house. The bodies were sent to PMCH for autopsy.

A police team left for Delhi in the evening as Singh had switched off his mobile phone. His last call was traced to Paschim Vihar locality in New Delhi.