Bodies of father and son found in Ranchi hotel room

Bodies of a 55-year-old man and his son with their throats slit were found in a room in a hotel here and the police claimed to have arrested the main accused in the double murder.

The bodies were found on Sunday evening from a hotel in the busy Station Road area and were identified to be those of Nageshwar Mehta and his 25-year-old son Abhishek, residents of Ichak block in Hazaribagh district, Ranchi senior superintendent of police Surendra Kumar Jha said on Monday.

A special investigation team was formed to probe the incident and a forensic team visited the hotel room and collected samples from the spot, he told reporters.

On investigation it was found that Nageshwar Mehta's would-be son-in-law Chandan Kumar was the main accused in the murder and admitted to the crime, Jha said.

He said that Chandan was in a relationship with Nageshwar Mehta’s daughter for the past two years. “Chandan told police that the father and the son used to blackmail him and demand money for buying land and constructing a house before the wedding. He also said that he had become fed up with the situation and hatched the plan of their murder.” Chandan had reportedly called the two men to Ranchi on Saturday and booked a room in Shivalik Hotel on Station Road for them. The next day, he reached the hotel and offered water mixed with a narcotic substance to them around 10 am.

“When the duo fell unconscious under the influence of the drug, he bought a knife from the market around 12 noon and returned to the hotel. He then slit their throats and informed the police around 5.30pm. He informed the police by dialing 100 in a bid to misguide them,'' Jha said. He also tried to hide evidences but the SIT cracked the case within 24 hours.

''We have also recovered the knife and drug used in crime,” the SSP said.