A horrific double murder has come to light in the Sudama Nagar locality under Aishbagh police limits in Bhopal, where the highly decomposed, blood-soaked bodies of a retired railway employee and his retired nurse wife were recovered from their locked house on Friday night. The grim discovery was made after neighbours felt a strong, foul odour emanating from the residence and alerted the local police. Responding officers broke open the main door to find both victims dead with multiple gunshot wounds, with preliminary forensic assessments indicating that the murders occurred at least two days prior to the recovery of the bodies.

 

The deceased have been identified as 64-year-old Hemant Barik, a retired railway employee, and his 62-year-old wife Shakuntala Barik, who had retired as a nurse from Kasturba Hospital. The elderly couple, who did not have any children, lived alone in the large residential property. For security and maintenance purposes, they had rented out a portion of their house to college students, who resided in a separate wing of the same premises but failed to notice any suspicious activity over the preceding days. Upon securing the crime scene, a specialised team from the Forensic Science Laboratory conducted a detailed search of the room, recovering three empty bullet cartridges from the floor. Forensic analysis of the entry wounds suggests that the assailants executed the couple from point-blank range. Hemant Barik sustained a single, fatal gunshot wound to his head, resulting in instantaneous death, while Shakuntala Barik was shot twice, once in the head and a second time in her lower back, with the bullet lodging near her spine.

 

According to relatives, Shakuntala Barik had last spoken on the telephone with her sister-in-law, Shivani, on Wednesday, during which she mentioned planning to take her husband to an eye clinic for a routine check-up and gave no indication of any impending danger. However, family members admitted to the police that the elderly couple frequently engaged in intense domestic disputes and mutual arguments. Law enforcement agencies are currently awaiting the final post-mortem examination report to establish the precise time of death and confirm the calibre of the firearm used in the execution.