The businessman identified as Harpal Singh (48) was on Sunday arrested on charges of murdering his wife Sandeep Kaur (40), sons Jaskirat Singh (17) and Sukhwinder Singh (9) and daughter Chehak (11).

The interrogation of the accused revealed that he first intoxicated his wife and children with sleeping pills and then poured petrol over them and burnt them. Their charred bodies were recovered from the bedroom while Harpal who also sustained burn injuries was rushed to hospital where he was being given medical treatment.

Harpal’s neighbour Prashant was the first to spot Harpal and the four bodies of his family members. Police was informed about the incident who reached the spot and initiated investigations.

Officers said that Harpal had planed to portray the entire incident as an accidental fire or a suicide bid by the family. He had also written a 12 page suicide note. He initially claimed that he and his family were in distress due to certain section of people, including his relatives due to which he and his family members were committing suicide. In his suicide note, he also named certain relatives and alleged that they were putting pressure on him and his family members of paying back Rs 4 crore the amount that Harpal claimed he never took as loan from them. But, certain circumstances at the scene of crime raised doubts about his version of the incident. Also, in the autopsy of the three children, certain injuries were found on their bodies that indicated that they were assaulted with sharp edged weapons before being burnt to death.

Harpal and his family were staying in Bahadurgarh Sector 9. On Saturday evening, two blasts took place at this residence. Neighbours gathered and found flames emanating of the house’s windows. They broke opened the house’s door and found injured Harpal near the main door and four bodies in the bedroom.

DCP Mayank Mishra, who led the probe, told media persons that Harpal, a native of Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, was running a transport business. He had shifted to Bahadurgarh with his family about seven months ago. He had taken this house on rent from landlord Om Prakash by giving a fake id in which Harpal showed himself a resident of Delhi.