Agra (UP), Jan 1: Following the shocking incident of a man killing his mother and four sisters in a Lucknow hotel room and then shooting a chilling video, his neighbours here described the family as reclusive and struggling with financial difficulties.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Islam Nagar neighbourhood in Tehri Baghia area of Kuberapur in Agra.
“Mohammad Badr and his son Mohammad Arshad lived here for around 10-15 years but never maintained good relations with anyone. They even misbehaved with the women in their family,” Alim Khan, a neighbour, told reporters.
Khan also alleged, “I loaned them some money earlier to construct part of their house, and that’s when they moved in. But after that, they kept to themselves.”
He further recalled that when two years ago one of their daughters died, hardly anyone from the neighbourhood attended her last rites.
“Only a few of us went to the cemetery,” Khan noted that while the daughters were seen reading the Quran, “the father and son neither prayed nor interacted much with the community. The father and son often had disputes amongst themselves.”
Fatima Begum, another neighbour, claimed, “The father and son used to abuse and mistreat the daughters. One of their daughters had a troubled marriage, which worsened her situation.”
Fatima further stated that the father and son sold ready-made clothes for a living but struggled financially.
“Their rude behaviour distanced them from everyone,” she remarked.
Babu, an elderly man from a nearby lane, said, “About 8-10 days ago, we heard that the family had left for somewhere. Today, we learned about this tragic incident.”
According to him, the father and son were quarrelsome and often engaged in verbal spats with others in the locality. He speculated that poverty might have played a role in the grim turn of events.
Mohammad Islam, another neighbour, echoed these sentiments, adding, “The family was notorious for not maintaining good relations with anyone. The father and son did not seem to care for their family members. I suspect they could be behind the killings.”
The bodies of Arshad’s mother and four sisters were found in a room at Lucknow’s Sharanjeet Hotel this morning.
Arshad was arrested at the scene, while police said his father, Mohammad Badr, is on the run.
After the incident, Arshad’s video confessing to the crime went viral. In the 6.5-minute selfie video, he alleged that his actions resulted from harassment by neighbours over a land dispute.
He also alleged that they wanted to usurp the family’s property, harm his sisters and were against them converting into Hindus.
However, Arshad did not implicate his father in the killings and squarely blamed their community for pushing him to commit the act.(PTI)
