How a man staged disappearance drama in J&K to cover up the murder of Lucknow family

Jammu: Startling revelation came to light on Wednesday about the Lucknow family allegedly missing during their travel to Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier reports had said that three members of a family from Lucknow — Mehmood Ali Khan, his wife Darakshan, and their son, Shavez — had gone missing in Ramban district while they were on their way from Jammu to Srinagar.

Police sources said according to Salim Khan, brother-in-law of Mehmood Ali Khan, all 3 members were murdered by elder son, Sarfaraz Khan on January 5, the day they were leaving towards Jammu by train.

“After disposing of their dead bodies, he meticulously planned to mislead the relatives and police. He clandestinely visited Jammu and Kashmir and messaged via WhatsApp from his father’s mobile phone on 14th January morning in which he posed as his younger brother, Shavez, and said that they are stuck on the highway due to landslides.

“He even posted some pictures of the highway,” said the sources.

The details of the case came to light when the J&K police traced the phone in Lucknow that was used to send WhatsApp messages.

Police said Sarfraz had murdered his father, mother and brother in Lucknow itself. On January 6 the body of a youth with slit throat was found in Lucknow’s Mall Road in the Itaunja area.

Police were unable to identify the body. After this, two more bodies with slit throats were found in the Malihabad area in Lucknow.

After the photographs of the three persons allegedly missing in J&K’s Ramban area were published, police in Lucknow were able to identify all three.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the eldest son of the family, Sarfraz had murdered them. Sarfraz has been taken into custody.

Police said other contacts of Sarfraz are also being questioned. The motive of the gruesome crime is still not known.