Late at night, police found the body of the woman’s husband who they suspect was either poisoned or strangled. The body was discovered under a bed in a rented house at Rajapuri Sanjay Colony in Southwest Delhi’s Bindapur area.

Police claimed Ravi, a resident of Mayapuri in West Delhi, killed Renu Malik (22) around 9.30 am. “Minutes later, he murdered Sheela Garg (55), in whose house the Maliks used to live as tenants” a police officer said.

“Then Ravi drove to Ghaziabad and killed Renu’s father and younger sister. After that, he committed suicide,” the officer said.

Police said Renu used to stay on the second floor of the three-storey building. The owner of the house, Sheela Garg, used to live on the first floor with her husband and children.

“On Monday morning, Ravi was probably alone with Renu and killed her. It appears Sheela ran upstairs after hearing gunshots and tried to intervene. He shot at her and fled,” DCP (South East) A K Ojha said.

Sheela’s son, Dinesh, said he was getting ready to go to work when he heard gunshots and he, too, ran upstairs.

“I saw Ravi running out of the house and tried to stop him. He told me to take care of my mother. When I entered the second floor, I saw my mother lying in a pool of blood,” Dinesh said.

Eyewitnesses said they saw Ravi running towards his car parked outside the building. They claimed he was carrying two firearms.

Police said Ravi then drove 40 km to Renu’s village, Isapur in Bhojpur locality of Ghaziabad.

There, he had an argument with Renu’s father, Harinder, and younger sister Baby. He allegedly killed them around 2 pm. Police said he was angry with the family because they had arranged Renu’s marriage to Narender.

“He shot both of them in the head. Then he went upstairs and shot himself in the temple,” Ghaziabad Superintendent of Police (Rural) Jagdish Sharma said.

Police said a country-made firearm and a sophisticated pistol were recovered from the room in which Ravi committed suicide.

All the bodies have been sent for autopsy. Doctors said Renu had two bullet wounds, while Sheela took three bullets.

Police found Narender’s body around 10.30 pm, though they had searched the house during the day.

Officers said they entered the room again at night as a stench was emanating from there. “Narender’s body does not have any injury mark. It appears that he was strangled or poisoned several hours before the shooting took place on Monday morning,” one of the officers said.