The man allegedly killed his wife and children and faked his own death, police said. (Representational)
The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested a man, who was believed to be dead, for allegedly killing his wife and two children three years ago and then burying their bodies in the basement of his house in Greater Noida, officials said on Thursday.
The skeletal remains were exhumed from the site late Wednesday night by teams of the Greater Noida police and the Kasganj police, and have been sent for forensic examination, they said.
Thirty-four-year-old Rakesh is also accused of killing a friend of his in Kasganj, two months after killing his family members in Greater Noida, the officials said.
Rakesh placed his identity cards on his friend's body to lead investigators into believing that he had been killed, they said.
In February 2018, a man filed a "missing" persons complaint at the Bisrakh police station in Greater Noida. He claimed that his 27-year-old daughter and her two grandchildren, aged three and one, had been kidnapped by his son-in-law Rakesh, senior police official Ankur Aggarwal said.
On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered and investigation initiated, the official said.
"Two months later, an FIR was registered at the Dholna police station in Kasganj district about the murder of Rakesh," Mr Aggarwal said.
In the course of investigation of the murder case, the Kasganj police on Wednesday reached Bisrakh and informed their counterparts that Rakesh was alive and had been arrested, he said.
"The Kasganj police also informed us that Rakesh, who was accused of kidnapping his wife and two children, had told them that he had killed his family members and buried their bodies at their house in Bisrakh in Greater Noida," Mr Aggarwal said.
The basement of Rakesh's house in Bisrakh was searched and some skeletal remains were exhumed on Wednesday in the presence of Greater Noida and Kasganj police teams, he said.
"These remains have been sent to forensic experts so that identities can be ascertained and on the basis of that modifications will be made in the FIR that was lodged here in 2018," the official said.
Rakesh has been arrested by the Kasganj police, the officials said, adding that further investigation and legal proceedings in the case are being carried out.