A 24-year-old man has been arrested after the bodies of his mother and four sisters were found inside a hotel room on Wednesday, Jan. 1.
The man - named only as Arshad by authorities - was detained after he reportedly admitted k!lling his family amid a New Year's Eve dispute in the city of Lucknow, India.
According to authorities, the murdered women have been identified as the man's sisters Aliya, 9, Aqsa, 16, Rehmeen, 18, and Alsiha, 19, and his 45-year-old mother.
"Today, the bodies of five people were found in a room of Hotel Sharan Jeet," deputy police commissioner Raveena Tyagi told ANI. "The local police reached the spot, and a person named Arshad, around 24 years old, a resident of Agra, was detained."
"In the preliminary interrogation itself, he said that due to a family dispute, he had k!lled his four sisters and mother. Further interrogation is being done," Tyagi added.
"Inquiry is also being conducted with nearby hotel staff," joint commissioner of police Babloo Kumar added to reporters, per the Deccan Herald.
"Regarding the bodies recovered, some show signs of injuries - on the wrist of one, on the neck of another. Based on these marks, statements from witnesses and the post-mortem report, we are conducting a detailed investigation into the matter," he added.
According to The Hindustan Times, the family arrived at the hotel on Tuesday, Dec. 30 to celebrate the New Year.
It added that Arshad allegedly served his family food and drinks containing an unspecified drug before he k!lled them.
After k!lling all five women, the accused shot a video where he not only showed the lifeless bodies but also explained the reason behind the k!llings and blamed the neighbours for the extreme step that he took.
The accused claimed to have taken the extreme step as he was "helpless" in front of the people of his locality and wanted to save the "honour" of the women in the family.
In a 6.55-minute long video that went viral on social media, Arshad, who hails from Agra, said that the bastiwale (people of his locality) have committed "unimaginable atrocities" on him and his family with an aim to snatch his house.
"I, along with my entire family is forced to take this step in helplessness and despair... I have k!lled my sisters and myself. When the police get this video, I request that they hold the people of the locality responsible for all of this," the accused said.
He added that because his house was taken away, he and his family, including his young sisters, are forced to run from pillar to post and were even sleeping on footpaths for 15 days.
"I have the documents of the house, which my family wanted to donate to a temple and [then later] convert to Hinduism," the accused added.
In the video, he named some people and claimed them to be the land mafia and women traffickers and demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take strict action against them. He also alleged that police never helped the family even when contacted multiple times.
"Their plan was to get me and my father arrested in a fake case and then sell my sisters in Hyderabad. We wanted to save their honour.... I sl!t the throats of my sisters," he further said as he removed the blankets from the faces of his sisters, whose lifeless bodies were lying in a pool of blood on the bed of the hotel room.
The accused is alleged to have committed the act with his father's assistance. After committing the crime, he dropped his father Mohammed Badar at the Charbagh railway station and then walked into the police station to admit his act.
In the video, the father of the accused, Mohammed Badr, was also seen holding the neck of one of his daughters who he said was conscious while the video was being shot. In the video, he explained how he fed alcohol to all five women before str@ngulating and sl!tting them with blades.
The accused also claimed that he hailed from Badaun and possessed documents of his nationality dating back to 1947 but has still been tagged as 'Bangladeshi' and faced constant harassment by the locals.
"I will also d!e after all my family...with folded hands, I am requesting that the house they snatched away was decorated with love and affection by my sisters. I want a temple to be built on that land and all our belongings donated to the needy," he added.
The neighbours of the accused, whose house is located in Tedhi Bagiya locality in Agra, refuted the claims made by him and termed him a "psycho".
"Both Mohammad Badr and his son Mohammad Arshad are living here for over a decade but never became friends with anyone in the locality. They used to create ruckus every now and then and have fought with almost every person in the area," said Fatima Begum, a neighbour.
Senior police officers, including Lucknow's Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central, Raveena Tyagi, said Arshad and his father Mohammad Badar, 55, were the prime suspects of the crime and that they had confessed to it.
DCP Tyagi said that Mohammad Arshad was taken into custody and further investigation was on while the search for Badar was on.
Police teams were rummaging through CCTV footage to nab his father.
"An investigation is underway," joint commissioner of police Babloo Kumar added in a video posted by the Press Trust of India. "There are some open wounds on the body. We are finding out everything and will inform."
According to police sources, the injuries on the bodies suggested that the man and his father strangled all five women to death, and the lack of resistance raises suspicion that the deceased was given sedative-laced food before being murdered. Their wrists were also slit.
Based on Arshad's statements, the police recovered the murder weapons- a blade and a dupatta.
Watch the video below.
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