Alwar, Rajasthan, August 19, 2025

In a shocking case from Alwar, Rajasthan, 8-year-old Harshal has emerged as a crucial witness in the murder of his father, Hansraj, whose body was discovered decomposing in a blue water drum in their rented home. The prime suspects are Hansraj’s wife, Sunita, and her alleged lover, Jitendra Sharma, the landlady’s son.

Harshal described the horrifying events leading up to his father’s death. “My father, mother, and uncle were drinking together. My mother only had a couple of pegs, but my father and uncle drank a lot. After that, my father started beating my mother. My uncle tried to intervene, but my father threatened, ‘If you save her, I will kill you too,’” the child recounted.

Harshal said his mother then asked him to go to sleep. When he woke up, he saw his father on the bed, and later witnessed Sunita and Jitendra moving his father’s body. “They threw the water and put papa’s body in the drum and placed it in the kitchen. I asked them why they were doing this, then they said papa has died,” he said.

According to police, Hansraj was smothered with a pillow after he became heavily intoxicated. Harshal also revealed a history of domestic abuse, stating that his father frequently beat his mother and him and even burned his mother with cigarettes. He alleged that on August 15, Hansraj had attacked him with a blade.

The man, originally from Uttar Pradesh, worked at a brick kiln in Alwar and had rented the room only months ago. The foul smell emanating from the drum on the first floor prompted the elderly landlady to alert authorities. When the police opened the drum, Hansraj’s decomposing body was recovered. Sunita and Jitendra had attempted to dissolve the body with salt.

After the murder, Sunita, her three children, and Jitendra fled to a brick kiln located 50 km away. They were later apprehended following a tip-off from the kiln owner. Police investigations revealed that Sunita and Jitendra had been in a relationship for four months, which Hansraj had discovered, leading to frequent fights.

Harshal also mentioned that Jitendra often helped the family, which caused further tension between his parents. “I was admitted to school by him. My father got angry that uncle had got my admission done and started beating my mother. Then, uncle came to save my mother,” he said.

The children are now in the custody of their paternal grandparents. Authorities are investigating the incident further. The case echoes a similar gruesome murder in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, where a man was allegedly killed by his wife and her lover, with the body disposed of in a drum under wet cement. In that case, the victim’s daughter had eerily revealed the crime by repeatedly saying, “Papa drum mein hain.”