NEW DELHI: On Feb 23, 42-year-old Munchun Kewat received a phone call that, police claim, triggered a chain of events culminating in the death of his wife and three daughters, aged between three and five years, in outer Delhi’s Samaypur Badli two days later.Within hours of that call, Kewat allegedly purchased a Rs 90 knife meant to cut jackfruits. Police believe he used it to murder the four at their residence in Chandan Park, Siraspur. He has been arrested.
A habitual gambler who wagered both online and offline on cricket matches and card games, Kewat suffered heavy losses and accumulated debt. Last month, he borrowed Rs 2 lakh from his in-laws and reportedly repaid Rs 60,000 to one of his lenders, Mithilesh, and Rs 40,000 to a ginger supplier to clear parts of the dues, but lost the remaining Rs 1 lakh in further betting. Police said that the family was under extreme financial pressure due to a “huge loan”, which led to frequent domestic disputes.On Feb 23, Mithilesh had called up Kewat demanding he clear the dues. The conversation escalated into a heated exchange, during which Mithilesh allegedly threatened to “keep” Kewat’s wife, Anita (30), and make her and her children work if the money was not returned.Enraged, Kewat blocked Mithilesh and decided to kill his own family as well as himself. Around 1 pm that day, he bought the knife from a mandi, brought it home and hid it under a bag. According to police, he planned to carry out the act that very night, but could not do so.The next day, he went to work and returned home at 1 pm. He even fasted, like he did every Tuesday. He then took the family for Holi shopping in the evening. When Anita told her husband that she had received a call from Mithilesh, an argument over finances broke out between the couple around 11.30 pm, police said. At 4 am, when she reportedly questioned him why he was still awake, he allegedly slit her throat. Police said the injury marks suggest a brief struggle might have taken place. The commotion woke up the eldest daughter, who began crying, after which he allegedly killed her and the two other girls, cops said.Kewat told police that he then tried to kill himself, but could not. Instead, he fled towards Ajmer, where he had previously worked. He boarded a train without a ticket and got down at Kishangarh, a station near Ajmer. Meanwhile, special CP (law and order) Ravindra had formed six teams to crack the case. “We took note of Kewat’s earlier employment stints in Panapakkam in Tamil Nadu and Ajmer, and sent our teams to these places and other locations ,” said DCP (outer north) Hareshwar Swami, adding that they had analysed footage from over 800 CCTV cameras and used the facial recognition system to track his movements for the next 72 hours. Once Kewat was arrested in Kishangarh, police found out that he had attempted to contact a contractor he had earlier worked with in Ajmer, but could not. In the meantime, he slept inside on mandi premises and survived on roadside meals.Kewat was previously involved in a case of theft at Adarsh Nagar and was seen in social media posts brandishing weapons, police said.
