Meerut: A cleric’s wife and their two daughters – aged 2 and 5 – were found murdered with a blunt object at Baghpat’s Gangnauli village around 3pm on Saturday. Their blood-soaked bodies were found lying on a cot inside the village’s Badi Masjid (grand mosque) complex, where the cleric Mohd Ibrahim was posted as an imam, under the Doghat thana jurisdiction.A large police force was deployed in the area after locals gathered to protest the triple murder. Residents said the cleric, who is originally from Sunna in Muzaffarnagar district, was residing with his family at the mosque complex for the past four years. His wife, Israna, 30, used to teach children there.
SP (Baghpat) Suraj Rai said, “The body of the cleric’s wife was found lying on the floor, while the blood-soaked bodies of the two girls were on a cot. Preliminary investigation indicates they died after their heads were struck with a blunt object, and the perpetrator appears to have had access to the family. The bodies have been sent for postmortem and the report is awaited. Several teams have been formed to crack the case.“Ibrahim had gone to Deoband for some work at the time of the incident. When other kids arrived at the mosque for their evening tuition, they were shocked to see the three bodies inside the place, and the news soon spread across the village. Ibrahim, who rushed to Baghpat, said, “I have no clue who could have done it. We have CCTV installed, which runs 24 hours. I had no enmity with anyone.”DIG police (Meerut range) Kalanidhi Naithani inspected the crime scene along with other senior officials. A cop privy to the case said that police teams are investigating every angle, including family disputes, robbery or other possible reasons, as the motive behind the gruesome killings, and the unknown assailant/s will be nabbed soon.
