A missing iPhone, a bitter love triangle, and a double murder: Inside the hunt for a friend-turned-killer

Source Domain: indianexpress.com

When Jyoti Devi arrived home at 5 pm, there was nothing unusual. She would always arrive home around that time in the evening.

May 6, a Wednesday, was a routine work day. Last year, she was given a job by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government on compassionate grounds after her husband’s death in harness. Ever since, she has spent her days travelling 3 km to her office, where she works as a class IV employee in the Irrigation Department.

But once she stepped inside, a prickle of unease hit her — the main door to the house was ajar. And when Jyoti entered the house, she saw her two sons, Nakul, 18 and Nikhil, 16, lying unconscious. The living room was stained with blood and bore signs of struggle.

“When I entered the room, I saw them lying in the pool of blood… my sons were lying there… blood was everywhere,’’ she recalled. “I started screaming”. Her neighbours rushed to her aid; one of them called the Kathua police station.

Jyoti was inconsolable.

This family of three lived in a single-storey house, which was still incomplete. Built on 4-5 marlas (around 1,200 sq.ft), it has a small open lawn near the front gate to park a scooter. The other houses in the neighbourhood, too, are standalone structures — some double-storey — built on agricultural land.

Jyoti’s husband, Balbir Singh, died on December 17, 2022, at the age of 38. He was working in the Public Health Department.

Jyoti was only a homemaker, and now she had to take care of the family all by herself. For the next three years, she fought for a government job. Under a scheme run by the J&K government, a family member of an employee who dies in harness is provided employment on compassionate grounds. She eventually got the job early last year.

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Her elder son, Nakul, was preparing to reappear for two Class 11 subjects that he had not cleared last year; Nikhil had passed his Class 10 examination the previous month.

Jyoti recalled the morning of May 6. “I had…

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