A 24-year-old man killed his mother and four sisters in a hotel room here on Wednesday and recorded a confession video where he showed the bloodied bodies and alleged harassment by land mafia before surrendering himself at the local
police station.

Mohammad Asad, who was arrested shortly after the incident, told the cops that he killed his mother and sisters with the help of his father after mixing an intoxicant in their food.

In the video, whose authenticity could not be verified, Asad also claimed that his family wanted to convert to Hinduism after being victimised by members of his own community. He claimed he wanted to “dedicate” his house to a temple but was prevented by the assailants.

The victims have been identified as Alshiya, 19, Rahmeen, 18, Aksa, 16, Aliya, 9 and their mother Asman, in her 50s.

Babloo Kumar, joint commissioner of police, said: “We have sent the bodies for post-mortem, taken Mohammad Asad into custody and are looking for his father, Mohammad Badar, who is absconding.”

According to Kumar, the family had checked into the hotel on December 30. “The hotel staff called us this morning and said that there were some bodies in a room. There are cut marks on the wrists and throats of the victims,” he said.

Central Lucknow deputy commissioner of police Raveena Tyagi said forensic teams had been deployed at the crime spot to collect evidence and a probe had been initiated.

A purported video surfaced on social media shortly after the incident came to light in which Asad is seen confessing to slitting the wrists and throats of his sisters
and mother.

In the video, Asad said his family had been living away from their home at Islam Nagar in Agra for the last 10 days over fear of the land mafia.

“There are people who have grabbed half of our land where our house is located and are trying to snatch the entire house. They are mounting pressure on us every day. We went to the police and politicians but got no help,” Asad said while expressing fear that the goons could push his sisters into prostitution.

“It has been 10 days now, and we have been forced to sleep on the footpath and wander in the cold,” he said.

“They have taken our house from us, even though we have the legal papers for the property. We wanted to dedicate it to a temple and change our religion, but everything has been snatched from us. It is why we were forced to take this step. It is 2am as I speak, and I have had to kill everyone by slitting their wrists,” Asad said as he pointed the camera at the bodies.

Asad named Ranu (alias Aftab), Ahmed, Aleem Khan, Salim Driver, Ahmed Ranu, Arif and Azhar as the people responsible for his family’s plight. “I hold them responsible for this incident. They had planned to grab our house. They used to say that they would sell my sisters to a prostitution racket in Hyderabad.”

Police sources said the people named by Asad were real estate agents.

Asad also made an appeal to the police and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the video clip.

“When the cops get this video, I have a plea to the Lucknow police and Yogiji... Do not spare such Muslims. What you are doing is commendable because these Muslims are involved in land grabbing and oppression everywhere. They engage in unlawful activities, including counterfeit currency operations,” Asad added.

He said his family originally hailed from Budaun and possessed documents dating back to 1947 that proved their identity. Despite this, they were being falsely accused and labelled as Bangladeshi migrants, Asad alleged.

“In a little while, I will also die. But I want to say one thing — no family in India should have to face such a situation again. Modiji and Yogiji, I fold my hands and request you to understand that not every Muslim is the same.

“If we couldn’t get justice while alive, then after our deaths the culprits should be given the harshest punishment,” he said.

“But I must say that if you are true Hindus and Thakurs, please know we wanted to convert to Hinduism. That house should only become a temple, and whatever belongings we have, especially what our sisters lovingly collected, should be donated to an orphanage so that our souls may find peace,” he said.

Later in the afternoon, a video purporting to show Badar began circulating on social media: “Those who were harassing us had fought with us on December 16. We went to the police but instead of taking action against them, the police mounted pressure on us to enter into an agreement with them (to sell his property to the mafia),” Badar says in the video.

Badar claimed that he was thinking of converting to Hinduism after being targeted by members of his own community.

“They (those who used to threaten them) came to know that we were planning to convert and started targeting us more,” he added.

The police quoted Asad as saying that his father could commit suicide, which was their initial plan.

While Badar was unemployed, Asad used to work as a street vendor who bought garments from Delhi and sold them in Agra. Their neighbours told reporters that the family was well off a few years ago but slipped into poverty after Asad’s business failed.

“Earlier, they used to interact with us but stopped meeting anybody in the last 3-4 years probably because they were ashamed of their financial condition,” a resident said, requesting anonymity.

Fatima Begum, a resident of Islam Nagar, said: “Asad used to pick fights with people without any reason. He is very aggressive and keeps misbehaving with people. He is married but his wife doesn’t stay with him.”