Bereaved family members of Mohammad Abdul Gani in Dhanbad on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, March 21: A group of men broke into the house of a 50-year-old man and killed his wife and son, after stabbing and leaving him in a pool blood early on Saturday morning.

Mohammad Abdul Gani, a paan shop owner living at Rahmatganj in the Wasseypur area under Bhuli police station, is being treated at Central Hospital of BCCL at Jagjivan Nagar with serious abdominal injuries.

Local residents rushed to their house after hearing their screams around 2.45am and managed to rush Gani to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital first. Later, he was shifted to the BCCL hospital.

Residents said the house was a ghastly sight after the murders, with the walls full of bloodstains.

Gani’s elder daughter, Ruby (18), who is to be married to a boy from Sheikhpura on March 30, was sleeping with her younger sister Sonu in an adjacent room.

But, the police found it odd that the room where the girls were sleeping had been locked from inside as well as outside. But, family members said it was a safety measure as wedding garments and jewellery had been stocked there.

Police sources said the attackers had scaled the rear boundary wall to enter Gani’s house. They stabbed him first, followed by his wife Zarina Khatun (45) and son Shahbaz (21). While mother and son died on the spot, Gani was hospitalised by local residents.

Policemen led by Bhuli officer in charge Harish Pathak met the family members and local residents. Dhanbad SP R.K. Dhan rushed to the BCCL hospital and spoke to doctors regarding Gani’s treatment.

Pathak said the killing might be linked to Ruby’s marriage. “It could be a love triangle,” he said. SP Dhan agreed but refused to elaborate in deference to family sentiments, keeping in mind that a wedding was to take place in 10 days.

Local residents, however, weren’t happy with the police’s explanation. Ijhar Ahmed Bihari, the district Congress’s minority cell in charge, issued 24-hour ultimatum to the police to catch the culprits.

Otherwise, he threatened a massive sit-in with the support of the local residents.