A rare crime story I did, a version of which appeared in today’s Indian Express.
An elderly couple was attacked by their long-time servant at Shrestha Vihar in east Delhi. Yashpal Soli, 63 years old and suffering from various heart ailments, died as a result of the attack. His wife, Sudha Soli, 60, was brutally assaulted with a hammer and received severe head injuries. Currently recuperating at the Max Healthcare Hospital in New Delhi, her condition is considered stable and she is thought to be out of danger.
In a tale resembling last year’s Booker-winning novel The White Tiger, the servant Surjeet had returned only a week ago to the Soli’s house. He had previously worked for them for two years as a young 12-year-old, but was later sent to work at the house of Swati, Mr Soli’s daughter, in Gurgaon. Clearly, much had changed when he returned after five years in Gurgaon, and the consequences were fatal for the Soli family.
Last night, Surjeet let two accomplices in and helped them hide on the terraces of the house. Sudha Soli, as a matter of habit, locks the house herself and that did not change. However, sometime after midnight, Surjeet unlocked the terrace door. They tied and gagged the couple and beat them.
In what looks like a case of strangulation, there were no injury marks on the body of Yashpal Soli. Apparently, his breath was muzzled with a pillow. Sudha Soli was hit on the head with a hammer and remained unconscious till early morning. By then, Surjeet and his accomplices had robbed the house, though the details for this are yet to be confirmed, and absconded in the silver Fiat Palio, that Yashpal Soli used to drive himself from place to place.
Somewhere during the crime’s time period, Surjeet and his accomplices found the time to have a few drinks. When police reached the scene of the crime, they found bottles of alcohol and glasses strewn around, along with packets of Kellogg’s cornflakes.
Panic started to creep in when Nishtha, the Soli’s younger daughter living in Mumbai, found that the parents were not responding to her repeated calls. Alarmed, she asked her sister in Gurgaon to verify the circumstances. Later, the neighbours broke into the house to find Mr Soli lying dead in the office from where he practised as a chartered accountant for the last few years, due to his deteriorating health.
Meanwhile, the neighbourhood is stunned by this act of audacious violence. As police vans arrived, members of the RWA could be seen arguing about the safety measures adopted by the colony. Especially under fire are the security guards at the gate, who let the assailants slip away in the Soli’s Palio. An elderly neighbour, who lives in the same lane, was especially critical. “They are usually lying drunk,” he said. “After 8 pm, they are so sloshed – you cannot expect anything from them.”
Other neighbours fondly remember the Solis as sober and polite, who usually kept to themselves. A middle-aged neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said she had prepared tea for her maid while she had gone out for a household chore. “When she did not return for a while, I went outside to call her as the tea was getting cold,” she said. “Only when I stepped out to the great commotion in the neighbourhood, I came to know of the tragedy that had happened.”
