For nearly two days, four bodies lay hidden inside a locked building above a bustling market in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. Neighbours walked past. Shopkeepers opened their shutters. Life carried on as usual.
It was only when a foul smell began spreading through the area that police broke open the door and uncovered a scene of unimaginable horror: a businessman, his wife, daughter and son bludgeoned to death inside their own home.
Blood-stained rooms. A locked house. Three bodies. And one family member missing. The family’s son, Abhishek, had vanished.
At first, investigators believed Abhishek could be the killer, and they were hunting for him. Instead, they would uncover a murder plot involving family feuds, stolen jewellery, a fake clue pointing to innocent relatives, and a conspiracy.
As investigators moved through the building, they stumbled upon something even stranger. The bodies appeared to have been doused with detergent, toilet cleaner and other substances, as though someone had gone to extraordinary lengths to erase what had happened inside those walls.
Then another clue surfaced. A handwritten message left near the scene carried a chilling accusation – “Beti Babli Bahu ne maara hai.”
In a case already soaked in blood, the note appeared to offer an answer. Instead, it would deepen the mystery.
Because what initially looked like a straightforward hunt for a killer would soon unravel into a tale of family feuds, property disputes, deception, stolen jewellery and a murder plot so elaborate that investigators first suspected one victim of carrying out the killings, before discovering he was dead too.
THE FAMILY AT THE CENTRE OF THE HORROR
Virendra Vaishya was a known businessman in the area. He lived in the building with his wife Anita, daughter Meenakshi and elder son Abhishek.
The property itself was valuable. The ground floor housed around 15 to 16 shops, most of them rented out, generating more than Rs 1 lakh every month. One shop was operated by Abhishek, who sold Vestige products including liquid detergent and toilet cleaners. Another belonged to Meenakshi, who had recently started a gift gallery business.
But beneath the appearance of a stable family business, tensions had been simmering for years.
Virendra had reportedly disowned his younger son Ashwini around 15 years ago after he married against the family’s wishes. Property disputes had become a recurring source of conflict within the family.
Investigators would later discover that those fractures ran deeper than anyone realised.
THE CLUE THAT POINTED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
The mysterious note immediately drew attention towards Ashwini and his wife Ritu. Locally, the couple were known as “Bunty-Babli”.
The nickname carried baggage.
Ashwini and Ritu had landed in jail in 2024 in a fraud case linked to alleged matrimonial website scams. Their strained relationship with the family and the wording of the note appeared too significant to ignore.
Was the message left behind by a dying victim? Had someone finally acted on years of resentment? For a brief period, investigators pursued those questions. But inside the house, another trail was beginning to emerge.
THE SON WHO LOOKED GUILTY
The deeper police looked, the more suspicion appeared to fall on Abhishek. His body was nowhere to be found.
A blood-stained T-shirt linked to him was recovered.
The bodies had been covered with detergent and cleaning agents – products that happened to be sold from his own shop downstairs.
The circumstances seemed to point in a single direction. Perhaps Abhishek had murdered his parents and sister before fleeing.
But then investigators forced open the locked shop he operated in the market below. Inside, they found another corpse. It was Abhishek.
The man who had seemed like the prime suspect was dead. The investigation had just turned on its head.
THE KILLER’S ATTEMPT TO ERASE EVERYTHING
The discovery of Abhishek’s body raised more questions than answers. Like the other victims, his body also bore severe head injuries. It too had been covered with detergent and other substances.
Investigators now believed somebody had spent hours inside the property after the murders. Whoever committed the crime had not merely killed. They had cleaned.
Detergent powder, toilet cleaner, bleaching agents and other materials had allegedly been used across the scene. Evidence appeared to have been washed. Objects had been moved. Potential clues had vanished.
This was not the work of someone acting in panic. It looked calculated. Almost rehearsed.
But in trying to erase every trace, the killer had left behind one crucial mistake.
THE MAN WHO WALKED OUT IN A DEAD MAN’S CLOTHES
Police began examining CCTV footage from the surrounding area. Among the recordings, investigators spotted a figure leaving the complex.
The man appeared to be wearing Virendra Vaishya’s clothes and shoes.
The footage became the breakthrough investigators desperately needed. Locals identified the man as Sunny Gupta, a samosa seller whose shop operated in the same market complex.
Suddenly, attention shifted. The investigation had a new name. And soon, according to police, a confession.
A BEER, A CONVERSATION AND A DEADLY PLAN
During questioning, police say Sunny revealed a chilling sequence of events. According to investigators, he and Abhishek were close friends.
On May 31, the two met at Abhishek’s shop. There was beer. There were cigarettes. There were kachoris. And there was a conversation that would end in bloodshed.
Police say Abhishek was struggling financially and remained bitter over disputes involving money and property. He believed his father had abandoned him and refused to help him.
What began as a conversation allegedly turned into a conspiracy.
According to police, the pair decided to kill the family, steal jewellery and divert suspicion towards Ashwini and Ritu by exploiting their “Bunty-Babli” reputation.
THE ATTACKS
Investigators say the plan was set in motion later that evening. At around 5 pm, Meenakshi arrived to open her gift shop. She never got the chance.
According to police, Abhishek struck her on the head with an iron rod while Sunny helped overpower her. She was dragged towards the staircase. The injuries proved fatal.
With the first victim dead, the pair allegedly moved upstairs. Virendra and Anita were inside the residence.
Police say both were attacked with the same iron rod and suffered repeated blows to the head. The elderly couple never stood a chance.
Within minutes, an entire family had been destroyed. Or so it seemed.
THE MURDERER WHO BECAME A VICTIM
After the killings, police say the two men ransacked cupboards and gathered jewellery.
Then came the message.
According to investigators, Abhishek used a red pen to write: “Beti Babli Bahu ne maara hai.”
The objective, police believe, was simple – direct suspicion towards Ashwini and Ritu.
The plan might have worked. But then greed intervened.
According to police, a dispute erupted while dividing the stolen jewellery. Sunny allegedly believed he was not receiving a fair share. The argument escalated.
Then, in a stunning twist, he allegedly attacked Abhishek with the same iron rod. The man accused of plotting the murders became the fourth victim. The conspiracy had consumed one of its own architects.
THE CLEAN-UP
With four bodies now lying inside the property, police say Sunny embarked on an extraordinary effort to destroy evidence.
Detergent powder, toilet cleaner, bleaching powder, mustard oil, turmeric, hot water.
Investigators allege all of it was used in an attempt to contaminate the crime scene and make forensic analysis difficult.
A pen, documents, mobile phones, clothes and other items were allegedly dumped into a water tank. Jewellery was hidden. The property was locked.
Sunny allegedly returned later to retrieve personal belongings he had accidentally left behind and ensure nothing connected him to the scene.
Convinced he had covered his tracks, he walked away.
THE MISTAKES THAT EXPOSED HIM
According to residents, Sunny’s behaviour changed almost immediately after the murders. People noticed injuries on his hands. When asked about them, he reportedly offered different explanations to different people. He also got his hair cut.
Investigators later found those details significant.
Combined with CCTV footage, forensic findings and local enquiries, the trail eventually led back to him. Even the elaborate deception involving the “Bunty-Babli” note failed.
What had been planted as a false clue ultimately became evidence of a deliberate attempt to mislead investigators.
QUESTIONS FOR THE POLICE
Even as the murders were solved, uncomfortable questions remained. The crime scene was located barely 200 metres from a police outpost. Yet four people lay dead for nearly two days before authorities were alerted.
It was only after neighbours complained about the stench coming from the locked building that the bodies were discovered. The fallout was immediate.
The officer in charge of the local outpost and another policeman were suspended.
In the end, however, the murders were not undone by the message, the cleaning agents or the locked doors.
According to police, the conspiracy collapsed because of something far more ordinary. Greed. And in a case built on deception, it was the one thing the killers failed to control.
– Ends
