In a shocking incident that has rattled a quiet neighbourhood, an elderly couple was discovered murdered inside their residence in east Delhi's Shahdara area in the early hours of Sunday. The victims have been identified as 75-year-old Virender Kumar Bansal, a retired government schoolteacher, and his 65-year-old wife, Parvesh Bansal, a homemaker.
Gruesome Discovery by Son
The grim discovery was made by their son, Vaibhav Bansal, who returned home from work. According to relatives, Vaibhav, who works as a part-time gym trainer and is also involved in stock trading, found the bodies and immediately raised an alarm. He called the police at 12:30 am, stating that his parents appeared unconscious and might be dead.
"When police reached the spot, Vaibhav told them someone had killed them," said DCP (Shahdara) Prashant Priya Gautam. The police found Parvesh with injuries to her neck in one room, while Virender was lying in a room at the other end of the flat with injuries to his face.
Robbery Emerges as Key Motive
Preliminary investigations point towards a possible robbery. Relatives confirmed that Parvesh's jewellery was missing from the house, although nothing else appeared to have been taken. The police have registered a case under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). While the exact motive is still being ascertained, authorities have stated that robbery cannot be ruled out.
The couple lived with their son in a third-floor flat of a five-storey building in Ram Nagar Extension. The building is secured by a main metal gate, and their individual flat had both a wooden and a metal door.
Community in Shock, Safety Concerns Raised
The brutal murder has sent waves of fear and anger through the local community. Virender Bansal, who hailed from Khekra village in UP's Baghpat district, retired in 2014 and had been living a quiet life in Shahdara since. Their daughter, Ekta, a teacher, has been based in Meerut since her wedding 15 years ago.
Neighbours and locals gathered outside the building, expressing deep distress and questioning the safety of the area. Sureshpal Verma, a retired teacher and next-door neighbour, said, "I have known the Bansals for a long time. We came to the building together. What has happened is very disturbing and shocking."
Residents highlighted that this was not an isolated incident, citing another murder inside a temple roughly 400 metres away less than a month ago. They said repeated violent crimes have shattered their sense of security.
"I don't trust locks any more. I check twice before opening my door," said Shivlal, who lives just a few steps from the Bansals' house. Another local, Sugandh Anand, pointed to frequent crimes like robberies, eve-teasing, and vehicle thefts, making residents jittery. She criticized the lack of functional CCTV surveillance, stating, "Authorities talk about installing CCTV cameras, but no one checks whether they work a few years down the line."
The incident has cast a long shadow over the locality, with the police investigation ongoing to apprehend the perpetrators behind this heinous crime.
