MUMBAI, August 11: Two more accused in the murder of Premlata Gupta at her Malabar Hill residence on Wednesday have been arrested by the police last evening. With this arrest, all four accused in the murder are now in police custody. Said zonal deputy commissioner of police Param Bir Singh, Soman and Santosh Choudhary were arrested at Bhiwandi in Thane district as they were planning to flee to their native village Lohar in Madubhani district, Bihar. The two suspects fell into a trap laid by the police. While the police spread the news that a police party is being flown to Bihar to nab the criminals, the detecting squad of Malabar Police actually headed for Thane to catch the two men off guard, informed police sources.

Earlier, the police had arrested Gangaram Jagdish Choudhary alias Sagar from a hideout at Tardeo on Friday. The prime accused Rajaram Hiraman Choudhary alias Chotu, was detained for questioning immediately after the murder. The accused confessed that they had murdered Gupta after committing robbery to destroy any evidence. The deceased was alone at her residence when the four men, including her domestic help Chotu, entered the house at about 1.20 pm on Wednesday with the intention of committing a robbery. A little later, she was found with stab wounds on the neck.

Rajaram, the prime accused in the case,said though they had succeeded in breaking open the cupboard with the help of a knife and laying their hands on the booty, they left behind the weapon with which they committed the murder in their hurry to escape from the scene of crime, says the police. All four accused have been remanded to police custody till August 24.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.