Sitaram Yadav

Patna, Feb. 15: A 70-year-old retired senior executive of All India Radio (AIR) was battered to death by a hammer at his residence in Kumhrar early this morning.

The murderers decamped with cash and valuables kept in an almirah.

Sitaram Yadav retired around six years ago as the programme executive officer of AIR. He and his wife Shakuntala Devi lived in their two-storied house at Naya Tola area in Kumhrar.

Yadav’s elder son Shashi Bhushan Saurabh is the national treasurer of the Janata Dal (United) national executive and is based in New Delhi.

His younger son and six daughters, all married, also stay out of town.

Officials of the Agamkuan police station said the murder took place early on Monday.

According to the police, the criminals entered the house after breaking a window grille and locked up Shakuntala, who was sleeping alone in another room on the ground floor.

The men then barged into the room in which Yadav was sleeping and hit him repeatedly with the same hammer which was used to break the window. They then dragged the body a few metres from the room and left it in a narrow lane outside the building.

Shakuntala Devi, Sitaram Yadav’s wife, shows the almirah which was broken into and looted. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

After this, the men entered another room of the house, broke the almirah and decamped with cash and valuables.

Shakuntala Devi remained locked in the room until 10 this morning before she was brought out by Mukesh Kumar, the driver of the Yadav household.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mukesh said he came to the house as usual around 8.30am but found the main gate locked.

“It was odd as both of them get up by then. I continuously rang the doorbell but no one answered. I called sahib on his cellphone but did not get any answer. Then, as advised by the residents, I climbed up the boundary wall and walked towards the back of the house where there is a door. Near it I saw the body of sahib lying drenched in blood. I ran outside and told the residents who called up the police. The police told me to get into the house and look for his wife. I entered the house and unlocked the room in which she was stuck,” Mukesh said.

The ground floor, in which the couple stayed, was in perfect shape except for the two rooms, one in which the murder was allegedly committed and the other in which the almirah was broken.

A shocked Shakuntala Devi said she did not have any idea about the money and valuables stolen from the house. “I have no idea how much has been taken away. I was sleeping in the room close to the one in which he slept. Around 1am, I heard the sound of the door being latched. I did not take it seriously as I thought he probably did not want to disturb me. This morning, I woke up around 9am and tried to open the door but found it locked. I knocked repeatedly but he did not answer. Then suddenly I got a call from my elder son in Delhi who was breathing heavily and asked me about his father. I said I did not know anything as I was locked in. Around 10am, the driver opened the door and I discovered what had happened,” she said, breaking down.

What has baffled the police is why the criminals had to drag Yadav’s body outside. “The room where he was supposedly killed has got bloodstains but not as much as there should be when someone has been hit by a hammer,” a police officer said.

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