Six years after the partially decomposed bodies of a 77-year-old retired government official and his 73-year-old wife were found from their Badaun city home, the CBI has zeroed in on a possible killer or killers with the help of DNA. Blood samples found at the scene
Brajendra Kumar Gupta and his wife Sanno Gupta, living alone in the City Kotwali area of Badaun, were found dead on 8 April 2015. He had marks of sharp weapons on his body. A year after their murders, the investigation was transferred to the CBI as the UP Police failed to make any progress in the case.
Notably, former PWD engineer Brajendra Kumar Gupta was leading the case of an alleged fake encounter by the UP Police in Bareilly in 2007 in which his youngest son Mukul was killed. The CBI, which has also probed the fake encounter case, had registered a case against 10 UP Police officials. In the 2007 ‘fake’ encounter case in which Brajendra Kumar Gupta’s youngest son was killed, the CBI investigated on the directions of the Allahabad High Court.
In 2014, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against nine officers of the UP Police. Though the CBI had registered a case against the then Assistant Superintendent of Police J Ravinder Gaur in the case, it could not file a chargesheet against him as the then Superintendent of Police. Samajwadi Party The government rejected the central agency’s request for prosecution sanction against him. Gaur is presently the DIG of Gorakhpur range.
Last week (November 18, 2021), the CBI arrested a 40-year-old neighbor of the Gupta family – Yogesh Verma, a driver – for his alleged involvement in the murder of the elderly couple. A CBI official involved in the investigation said the DNA test of a blood sample found at the crime scene matched that of Yogesh Verma’s elder brother Uday Prakash Verma, who committed suicide in 2019, four years after the twin murders.
The CBI official said that in the preliminary investigation, the motive of the murders appears to be robbery. “it is us
Efforts are still on to ascertain whether there is some other motive behind the twin murders. We are trying to find out whether the accused deliberately showed dacoity to mislead the direction of investigation. The role of the policemen in the fake encounter pursued by Brajendra Kumar Gupta is still being probed, a senior CBI official said.
According to the official, forensic teams took blood samples from the spot and sent them for DNA test. After the DNA of the blood sample found on the wall of the house did not match that of the victims, the CBI started collecting blood samples of all those who frequented the Gupta family and sent them for investigation.
When the blood samples did not match with any, the agency collected blood samples of neighbors.
“We collected blood samples of over four dozen people, brain-mapping test of seven and narco test of four others. Firstly, the blood report of 71-year-old Radheshyam Verma, a neighbor of the Gupta family, slightly matches the blood sample found at the crime scene. We then decided to take blood samples of other members of Radheshyam’s family for testing. During interrogation we came to know that Radheshyam’s elder son Uday Prakash Verma had committed suicide in January 2019 and his younger son Yogesh Verma did not live with the parents. The results of the forensic test showed great similarity between the DNA of Uday’s children and the DNA found in blood samples at the crime scene. This led the CBI to conclude that Uday was involved in the murders. We also searched Radheshyam’s house and recovered Uday’s blood-stained shirt along with handkerchief and blood-stained towel. Forensic examination of Uday’s blood-stained clothes is yet to come. It is being matched with Gupta’s son to confirm that there was blood of the victims on the clothes,” the official said.
The CBI also questioned Uday’s ex-wife, who had married another man in Maharashtra after his death. “She told the CBI that her husband, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, used to talk about killing someone during the robbery. She also told the CBI that her husband, her father-in-law Radheshyam, brother-in-law Yogesh Verma and sister-in-law were involved in the murder of the elderly couple.
Meanwhile, the CBI learned that Brajendra Kumar Gupta had returned his mortgaged jewelery for Rs 10 lakh in December 2014, months before his death. However, when the CBI searched his house, they did not find any cash or jewellery. Also, the CBI team did not find gold in the bank locker of the Gupta family.
“Investigators came to know that after the murder of the elderly couple, Uday Verma and his brother Yogesh went to Haldwani and from there to Nainital where they stayed in hotels. Investigation found that the brothers sold a part of the looted gold ornaments with the help of a local resident. This information was confirmed by a local youth from Haldwani, who helped the brothers to melt the stolen gold,” said the CBI officer.
The agency also collected details of Yogesh Verma’s bank accounts and found that around Rs 12 lakh was deposited in his bank accounts between 2015 and 16. Over Rs 70,000 was deposited in the bank account of Radhey Shyam, who died within a week. Earlier.
“We suspect the role of Yogesh Verma as Uday deposited the money in his bank account instead of depositing it in the account of his third brother. Radheshyam Verma has three sons,” said the official.
According to the residents of the area, the official said, Yogesh’s economic condition was not good before 2015 as he was unemployed. However, soon after Gupta’s murder, Uday and Yogesh’s financial situation changed drastically and their lifestyle improved, the official said.
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