Said Gopal Krishna, confessing to slaying them in their Ghatkopar home, after cops placed clinching evidence of his crime in front of him
Said Gopal Krishna, confessing to slaying them in their Ghatkopar home, after cops placed clinching evidence of his crime in front of him
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The exhaustive efforts by a team of investigators over the past three days finally pulled the cloak of innocence off Gopal Krishna, who admitted to slaughtering his brother and mother because of pent-up frustration with them.
With the aid of forensic investigations, the team bared Gopal's motives, and shot holes through his pretenceu00a0-- his feeble theories to cover up the crime, which led to the death of his 79-year-old mother, Radhabai Shivaram, and brother Jairam on Tuesday.
Gopal (48), fed up of taking care of his paralytic mother and mentally-unstable brother, wanted to get rid of them, so he could get married and start life afresh. A personal assistant to the vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, he had even bought a gold chain and bangles, so that he could get married and start his own family. His girlfriend, a widow, stays in Vikhroli.
Inspector Rajaram Kothmire of Ghatkopar police station said, "For a long time now, he had been frustrated with taking care of them. He had also tended to his father earlier. He now wanted to get married and start his own life. He used to do each and every thing for them - from taking his mother to the toilet to making food for the two of them, washing their utensils and so on. He did not want his wife-to-be to undergo the same hardships of looking after his family."
The accused, Gopal Krishna, has been remanded in police custody until April 28.
Damning evidenceu00a0u00a0
Police have been garnering evidence since the murders to nail Gopal, as he had always been their prime suspect. All the evidence pointed to him. But he denied the charges with a straight face and gave ambiguous vacillating statements.
On Thursday night, cops let him off. Relieved, Gopal felt he had escaped with the murders and returned home. But later in the night, they called him back and laid out all the evidence in front of him. They showed him the medical reports indicating that he had killed his kin between 5.30 am and 7.30 am on Tuesday, while Gopal had claimed that the murder took place after he left the house around 9 am. They produced the jewellery which he claimed had been robbed. They produced eyewitnesses who denied his claims that Jairam had gone to the temple.u00a0
Also, neighbors had heard shouts emanating from the house in the morning the crime was committed, as though there was a serious argument between the family members. They also testified that the family bickered regularly. They showed him reports that falsified his statement that he had made food for his mother on the day, and that his brother had cooked rice for himself. The reports clearly said that the last meal the mother had had, was at least 12 hours before the crime.
Cops told him that his fingerprints matched the ones on the stone used to kill Jairam. The garbage collector, who had come to collect the garbage at 9 am, had seen the mother lying on the bed with a bedsheet, in the same manner she was found by the cops in the night.
Confronted with the incriminating facts, Gopal broke down. He burst into tears and, between 2.30 am and 4 am, confessed to his crime, narrating why he did what he did.
Confessions of a criminal mind
According to the police, Gopal confessed to the crime, giving the following account:
Yes, I killed them. I killed both of them, as I was frustrated with them and wanted to start my own family. I could not marry because I had to take care of them. I had to take care of my mother as she could not even go to the toilet, but Jairam never did anything. He was mentally-unstable himself and was preoccupied with god all the time.
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| 1. Gopal kneads flour as specks of ash and dust from Jairam's puja fall in it; mother is in bed 2. He shouts at Jairam, a livid argument ensues; mother tries to intervene, yells at Gopal |
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| 3. A furious Gopal hits Jairam on the head with an iron rod; he collapses to the ground. 4. He takes Jairam to the bathroom, bashes him with a stone to silence his screams |
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| 5. After killing Jairam, Gopal strangles his mother as she is a witness to the murder 6. He leaves home for work, returns in the evening, raises a hue and cry over his dead kin |
About how he committed the crime, he said:
I was kneading wheat flour and my brother was performing puja, when all the dust from his puja plate fell over the flour and spoiled it. I shouted at him. But he was close to my mother, so she shouted back at me. Jairam and I started bellowing at each other. Enraged, I found an iron rod and hit him on his head with it. As he fell to the ground, my mother started bawling. I then took him to the toilet and threw his body in. He was still screaming so I picked up a stone and hit him on the head again. I then closed the door and came out. My mother was still wailing and crying. I thought she would tell the relatives about what had happened and I would be caught. So using a cloth nearby, I strangled her to death. Later, I cleaned everything and threw the flour in the dustbin.
Later, I cleaned the utensils and kept them in the drawer. I left for work at 9 am, locking the door behind me. I returned home with a chair for my mother that she could use in the toilet, so that no one would suspect me. At last, when I saw my mother, I shouted and called the neighbours, who called the police.
Holes in Gopal's story
GOPAL SAID: His mother's gold chain and bangles were missing; therefore, someone must have entered the house with the intention of robbing and killing his mother and brother.
POLICE SAY: Police found the gold chain and the bangles safe in a box in Gopal's house. The house was not ransacked and all the things were in their proper place, ruling out the possibility of robbery.
GOPAL SAID:u00a0 He had made roti and given it to his mother with jam on it.
POLICE SAY: He had not made rotis for his mom on the morning of the murder. Reports said that his mother had dal-roti, but that was the night before the murder.
GOPAL SAID:u00a0 His brother, Jairam, had made rice to eat during the day.
POLICE SAY: His brother had not cooked rice for himself, like Gopal said. Cops did not find any leftover rice or any unwashed utensils used to cook the food, as Gopal himself would clean everything. Also, how would Gopal know that his brother had made the rice, if he had left for office?
GOPAL SAID:u00a0 As a routine, Jairam had left the house at 8 am for the temple.
POLICE SAY: While he said that his brother had left for the temple, witnesses said that they did not see him at the temple or anywhere nearby that day. He used to be regular otherwise.
GOPAL SAID:u00a0 He alone had the house keys.
POLICE SAY: As Gopal claimed to have the only set of keys to the house, how did Jairam get back inside after coming returning from the temple? He then told cops that he had not locked the door.
Most importantly, Gopal said that he had left at 8 am, and the post mortem and medical reports show that the murders happened between 5.30 am and 7 am. Jairam was killed first and then his mother was strangulated to death.
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