A 16-year-old boy allegedly hacked his elder brother, sister-in-law and their three-year-old son to death while they were asleep at their home at Balua village of Gorakhpur district in the early hours of Monday, police said.
The incident took place around 3 am in the village, which falls under Bansgaon police station limits, about 50 km from the district headquarters. The deceased were identified as Amit Gupta, his wife Ranjana and their son Reyansh.
According to police, the three victims were sleeping in the same room when the teenager allegedly attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon. The accused’s parents were sleeping in another room.
Police said the boy’s father heard screams and rushed to the room, where he found the three lying in a pool of blood. He allegedly saw his younger son coming out of the room carrying the weapon, and informed neighbours before alerting the police.
Senior police officials reached the spot and launched an investigation. The teenager was detained from an upstairs room where police allegedly found him with the blood-stained weapon.
A case has been registered on the complaint of the victims’ father, and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
SP (South) Dinesh Puri said the three victims were killed inside the room, and the juvenile was being questioned.
The motive behind the killings is yet to be ascertained, police said, adding that preliminary investigation suggests a possible dispute related to a family-run shop may have triggered the incident.
