The accused, Ram Lagan, confessed to the crime after his arrest. (Image: X/RSaheb6440)
The murders came to light when the house owner, Dhirendra Kumar, living nearby, visited the house
A 32-year-old man allegedly murdered his wife and two children and kept their bodies next to him in their house in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow for almost two days. However, the foul smell emanating from their house led to his arrest on Sunday, police said.
The accused — identified as Ram Lagan Gautam — was arrested on the charges of killing his wife Jyoti, aged 30 and children Payal and Anand, aged six and three. Police said that he confessed to the crime during questioning.
According to DCP (South) Tej Swaroop Singh, Ram Lagan — a native of Balrampur district — lived in a rented house in Saravan Nagar area under the jurisdiction of the Bijnor police station. The murders came to light when the house owner, Dhirendra Kumar, living nearby, visited the house.
The couple — Ram Lagan and Jyoti — had been married for seven years and the accused had suspected his wife of having an affair, the DCP said, adding that he used to spy on her when she spoke on calls. “This often led to arguments between them. They had an argument on March 28 night as well, after which he killed her and the children,” Singh was quoted as saying by NDTV.
As per preliminary investigation, the accused killed his wife and children on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, he said. After committing the triple murder, the accused spent the night in the same room as the dead bodies.
Reportedly, for the next three days he left the house in the morning and came back home by night. It was only after this, that noticing Ram Lagan’s behaviour and the foul smell, the landlord entered the house where he ended up finding three bodies stuffed inside a sack, police added.
The accused was unable to take the bodies out as he lived in a crowded locality. Police said that Ram Lagan told his neighbours that his family had gone to a relative’s house for Holi.
The corpses have been sent for post-mortem examination, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
(With PTI inputs)