According to police, the incident came to light when Hem Chand returned home around 10.30 pm. In his statement to the police, Chand has said that unlike other evenings, his wife did not open the main gate on Friday, when he reached home from work a little late than usual. After a few minutes, with Hem Chand ringing the doorbell frantically, the family’s tenant, one Satish who stays on the ground floor of the house, came and opened the door, an officer said, quoting Chand’s statement.

“Within minutes, Hem Chand was seen rushing out of his house, screaming that his family had been murdered,” the officer said. The family lived on the first floor of the house: B-20, School Road, Binda Pur, Uttam Nagar

The police officer said Chand’s wife Seema, 34, and sons Kunal, 7, and Nishant, 4, were found dead. Police sources said all three had had their throats slit; Seema also had injuries on her hands. “It seems from initial medical examination that Seema had resisted, as borne out by the marks on her hands and wrists,” a senior officer said. 

The police said Hemchand has said in his statement that he found the three dead, lying amid blood with their throats slit, when he entered the room.

Satish, who was detained and later released by the police, said, “I had gone back to my room after opening the door for Hem Chand but within a couple of minutes I heard him screaming. He came rushing towards us, saying his wife and children were dead.”

Satish said he called the police from Hem Chand’s cellphone. He added that Seema’s body was on the floor and the children’s bodies on the bed.

Satish had been staying as a tenant with the family for the past one year.

Joint Commissioner of Police (South) Ajai Kashyap said, “We have ruled out robbery. We are looking into the motive, and whether the family had any enemies. Hem Chand is being interrogated; it is still not clear whether he is involved.

“The tenant’s movements are also being probed.”