23-year-old woman allegedly orchestrates uncle's murder in Delhi for gold

A 23-year-old woman allegedly plotted her uncle's murder along with her boyfriend and two accomplices, sending her aunt off to a fair so the elderly man would be home alone, according to a report by TOI. The gang smothered him to death and ransacked the house searching for gold worth Rs 80 lakh, but could only find Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and some jewellery.

A 60-year-old man was smothered to death inside his own home in Delhi's Rohini, in a murder plot allegedly hatched by his wife's niece over gold worth Rs 80 lakh. Despite tearing the house apart, the killers walked away with barely Rs 1.5 lakh, TOI reported.

Police identified the alleged mastermind as 23-year-old Simran Taneja, who they say roped in her boyfriend, a gym owner, along with two accomplices to rob and kill Rakesh Khanna. Khanna had recently sold a flat for Rs 80 lakh and converted the proceeds into gold, which he kept hidden at home, according to TOI's report.

The gang's central problem, per TOI, was that they never found what they came for. Khanna had concealed the gold so carefully that even his own family did not know where it was. His killers ransacked cupboards and drawers after the murder but ultimately fled with just Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and some jewellery, a fraction of the payoff they had allegedly planned around.

TOI's account traces the plot back to August 30, two days before the killing, when the gang allegedly carried out a recce of Khanna's house. On the day of the murder, Simran reportedly persuaded her aunt, Khanna's wife, and other relatives to visit a local fair, ensuring that Khanna, a heart patient, would be alone that evening.

With a duplicate key to the building's central lock already arranged, Simran and her boyfriend allegedly kept watch outside while two accomplices entered the house and smothered Khanna before he could raise an alarm.

Khanna's wife returned from the fair to find the house ransacked and her husband unconscious on the floor. She called the police around 8.15 pm, and Khanna was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead, TOI reported.

According to TOI, a 12-member police team was formed to investigate, and officers moved quickly, tracing the suspects through mobile phone locations and CCTV footage that had picked up suspicious movement near the house in the days before the murder.

Simran was reportedly spotted loitering near the crime scene after the killing, apparently keeping tabs on the police response. Her conflicting answers about her whereabouts during questioning prompted investigators to dig into her call records and WhatsApp messages, which helped unravel the plot.

Police said the case was cracked in just three hours. Three of the four accused, Simran and her two accomplices, are in custody, while her boyfriend remains at large. Officers have recovered Rs 70,000 of the stolen cash along with some jewellery, TOI reported. A case has been registered at the South Rohini police station, and the arrested accused have been produced in court and taken into remand.