‘Mom, uncle put papa's body in drum’: 8-year-old's account of Alwar murder case

Representative image

An eight-year-old boy has provided a harrowing account of his father’s murder and the subsequent attempt to conceal the body in a water drum, a case that has sent shockwaves through Rajasthan’s Alwar district. The child’s testimony has become central to the police investigation, which has led to the arrest of his mother and her alleged lover.

The victim, Hansraj, a labourer from Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly murdered in his rented home in Kishangarh on August 15. According to a report by NDTV, his decomposing body was discovered days later by his elderly landlady, who alerted the police after detecting a foul smell emanating from a sealed blue drum on the first floor of the property.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the victim’s eldest son, Harshal, recounted the chilling sequence of events on the night of the murder. He described a scene where his father, his mother Sunita and their landlord’s son, Jitendra Sharma, were drinking together.

“My father, mother and uncle were drinking together. My mother only had a couple of pegs, but the uncle who killed my father drank a lot. And so did my father, after which he started beating my mother,” the child stated, as per NDTV. “My uncle tried to intervene, but my father said, 'If you save her, I will kill you also.' Then uncle attacked my father.”

Harshal was further cited by NDTV as saying that his mother then sent him to sleep. “When I woke up, I saw my father on the bed, then I went back to sleep, but again when I woke up, I saw uncle and my mother,” he said. The pair, he alleged, became scared when the landlord began inquiring about Hansraj’s whereabouts and threatened to go to the police.

It was then, the child revealed, that the accused disposed of the body using a drum normally reserved for storing water. “They threw the water and put papa's body in the drum and placed it in the kitchen,” Harshal said. “I asked them why they were doing this, then they said papa has died,” NDTV quoted.

Police reportedly confirmed that the accused allegedly smothered a heavily intoxicated Hansraj with a pillow. In a gruesome detail, they added that salt was poured into the drum in an attempt to accelerate the decomposition of the corpse.

Following the murder, Sunita, her three children - Harshal and his two young sisters - and Jitendra Sharma fled the home. They were apprehended 50 km away from the crime scene at a brick kiln where they had gone to seek work, following a tip-off to the police.

The investigation has uncovered a motive rooted in an extramarital affair. According to the police cited by NDTV, Sunita and Jitendra Sharma had been in a relationship for the past four months. Hansraj had recently discovered the affair, leading to daily arguments. The police allege that Sunita and Jitendra, upset by the constant fighting, plotted to kill him.

Harshal’s testimony, reported by NDTV, also shed light on the domestic strife that plagued the household, revealing a history of brutal violence at the hands of his father. The child recounted that his father used to beat his mother frequently, burn her with a beedi and beat him too, even attacking his neck with a blade on August 15.

He also explained that Jitendra Sharma’s assistance to the family was a source of conflict, stating that the landlord's son had helped them, including securing his school admission. This act angered his father, who started beating his mother, prompting Jitendra to intervene. The three children are now set to be handed over to their paternal grandparents.

This gruesome crime bears a disturbing resemblance to a similar case in Meerut, where a man was killed by his wife and her lover, dismembered and buried in a drum under wet cement, a plot uncovered after the victim’s young daughter repeatedly stated, “Papa drum mein hain” (Papa is in the drum).