Neighbours in Telangana Colony, Nalgonda, noticed the smell first. It was coming from a locked house, and on the night of June 22 they called the police.
Inside lay four members of one family, already decomposed: Md Sultan, 45, who worked at a bag shop; his wife Haseena, 40, a private school teacher; their son Muzammil, 20, an AC technician; and their daughter Afsura, 12, a Class VII student. A postmortem found multiple injuries from a sharp-edged weapon, and a murder case was registered at Nalgonda I Town police station.
On Friday, police announced four arrests near the Narkatpally flyover. Two of the victims’ close relatives are among those held. Haseena’s niece Tabassum, 28, a homemaker, was picked up along with her husband Syed Aslam, 28, a car driver from Gandipet. The others are Aslam’s friend Mohammed Sohail, 26, also of Gandipet, and Hemanth Kumar, 28, a jeweller from Saroornagar.
A refused loan
Nalgonda Superintendent of Police Sharath Chandra Pawar said Tabassum and Aslam were under financial strain and had held a personal grudge against Haseena for some time. Aslam had earlier borrowed Rs 1 lakh from her and was paying interest on it. Tabassum had recently become pregnant, and Aslam wanted a new car for his taxi business.
When he asked Haseena for a fresh loan, she said no. She pointed to the money still owed and told him to repay it at once.
“Haseena’s humiliating refusal, coupled with their financial difficulties, fuelled a murder conspiracy,” the SP said. He added that Aslam searched YouTube for how to commit a murder and escape before acting.
What police say happened
According to Pawar, Aslam knew Haseena kept gold and cash at home. On June 19 he drove to Nalgonda and phoned Sultan to say he would visit that night. When Sultan stopped answering, Aslam climbed the compound wall and waited on the premises until the early hours.
At 5 am on June 20, Haseena opened the door for her morning chores. Police say Aslam stabbed her with a knife, then attacked Sultan. Muzammil came out holding a rod and tried to fight back. Aslam was hurt on his feet and a finger, but killed him too. The SP said he then went into the bedroom, pulled out the 12-year-old girl who was hiding under the bed, and stabbed her in the throat so there would be no witness.
From a cupboard in that bedroom Aslam took five tola of gold jewellery and land documents. With Sohail’s help, police said, he mortgaged the gold with Hemanth Kumar and received Rs 5.3 lakh.
After the accused confessed, officers recovered a car, Rs 3 lakh in cash, the knife, three mobile phones, the five tola of gold and the land documents.
