The city of Dehradun witnessed a chilling incident towards the fag end of last month. A 55-year old woman, Unnati Sharma, and her domestic help, Rajkumar Thapa, were found murdered at Dhaulas near Dehradun.
The double murder mystery
Speaking about the double murder case, senior police superintendent Janmejay Khanduri said that Subhash Sharma (husband of the murdered woman) revealed that when he and his wife returned home after a morning walk, they did not find Thapa.
The husband added that his wife Unnati Sharma went to search for Thapa but she did not return either. Khanduri said, “It was then he informed the police..”. Ultimately, the dead bodies of Unnati Sharma and Rajkumar Thapa were found covered in polythene sheets in the courtyard of the couple’s house.
Murder mystery solved
Cops managed to crack the Dehradun double murder mystery in a matter of few days. The police concluded that the murder was committed by one Aditya, a 20-year old local villager who wanted to get some work at Unnati Sharma’s house.
Earlier too, Aditya had worked at Unnati Sharma’s house and was then paid Rs. 500 per day. However, when Aditya approached the murdered woman for work, she said that they already had a domestic help.
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Aditya, who was seemingly desperate to get work, decided to eliminate Raj Kumar. The police investigation has revealed chilling details of the crime. Aditya is said to have entered Unnati Sharma’s house through a forest area and hit Thapa with an iron rod. Unnati, who was present at the spot, tried to escape and alert her husband, but Aditya followed her to the kitchen and killed her as well.
There were no CCTV cameras around the house, but the police used footage from nearby CCTV cameras to crack the case. Dehradun senior superintendent of police Janmejay Prabhakar Khanduri said, “The accused has confessed to the crime. We have recovered the murder weapon.”
Dehradun double murder case not the first one of its type
The Dehradun double murder case is a heart-wrenching incident. However, there have been such cases in the past too. In 2010, a 39-year old woman Meenakshi Sharma was killed by her house servant. Shockingly, the accused servant was treated as the most ‘trusted’ household help by his employer and was introduced by the murdered woman’s husband as his own son. This gives a glimpse into the gravity of the heinous crime.
And then, you must have heard of the Nithari serial killings case in which Noida police had recovered 19 skeletons from the drain near accused businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house. Later, Pandher and his domestic servant Surinder Koli were found guilty and sentenced to death in 10 cases. Ghastly serial crimes like rape and murder were committed by the two accused persons.
Administration ought to get strict about police verification of household help
Earlier this year, Faridabad district administration took a commendable step by directing the revenue department, police and private establishments, including residential property owners to carry out proper verification of tenants, employees and household workers.
Yashpal Yadav, the deputy commissioner of Faridabad said, “Action would be taken against those concerned if employees, tenants or house helps are found to be lacking police verification. Those who violate this order will face legal action and be considered a participant in any crime, as lack of police verification makes it difficult to catch criminals.”
Other local administrations must consider such steps too. The practice of employing servants without proper police verification is clearly leading to frequent cases of ghastly crimes, which, in itself, represents a social menace. At an individual level, the Dehradun double murder case is a warning for all of us – we must take proper precautions while employing our domestic help, in order to avoid such heart-wrenching tragedies.