Guj: Two workers from Jharkhand held for elderly couple's murder in Ahmedabad

Two construction workers from Jharkhand were on Tuesday arrested in connection with the killing of an elderly couple in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the city crime branch nabbed the accused, Mukut and Eeman, both residents of Khunti district of Jharkhand, deputy commissioner of police (crime) Chaitanya Mandlik said. On November 2, Dayanand Shanbhag (90) and his wife Vijayalakshmi Shanbhag (80) were found murdered in their apartment on the third floor of a residential building in Ghatlodia area of the city.

The accused have been working at a construction site in the same area for the last two months, and have confessed about their role in the killings, the official said.

The elderly couple's son lives with his family in the city's outskirts, and the police learnt that the victims were alone on the night of November 2, as their granddaughter was out for some work, he said.

''The accused were in need of cash, as they had sent money to their families on November 1. They zeroed in on the building, as only five out of the total 12 flats are occupied. Eeman stayed on the ground floor to keep a watch, while Mukut went on the top floors looking for an easy target,'' Mandlik said.

Mukut went on the third floor and went straight inside the victim's house, as the main door was open, the official said, adding that when the couple, who was sitting in the drawing room, confronted him, the accused pulled out a knife and slit their throats.

When he found nothing in a cupboard and in the kitchen, Mukut went into the bedroom and tried to open a small almirah by force and failed, he said.

The accused got scared of getting caught and left the flat in a hurry with Rs 500 he found in the house, Mandlik said The accused were overconfident that the police won't be able to catch them, and they did not leave for their hometowns and stayed back at the nearby construction site, from where they were arrested, the official added.

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