A 30-year-old man along with his friend has been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a woman and her two daughters at their residence in northeast Delhi’s Brahmapuri area earlier this week, police said.

According to police, prime accused Raheesuddin had a one-sided love affair with Mehrunisha (19), one of the victims, who was in a relationship with another boy in the locality.

Reheesuddin also supported Mehrunisha’s family after her step-father’s death, and claimed that her mother, Saira (50), the other victim, tried to extort money from him, aware about Raheesuddin’s feeling about her daughter.

Last week, he allegedly conspired a plot with his friend Javed (27) and went to Mehrunisha’s house, with butcher knives. They allegedly hacked to death Saira and her daughters Mehrunisha and Shabnam (9).

During investigation it came to light that Mehrunisha was Saira’s daughter from her first marriage in UP’s Etah. After divorce, Saira married another man and Shabnam was her daughter from the second marriage, an official said.

Saira’s second husband was in a relationship with another woman and started living separate. He passed away around two years ago, after which Mehrunisha started living with her mother. She soon became friends with Raheesuddin, the official said.

The incident came to light on Sunday when locals complained of severe stench emanating from Saira’s house. When a police team reached there, they found the three decomposed bodies with multiple stab injuries.

Prima facie, they died at least three days ago.

After questioning over 100 persons in connection with the incident, police zeroed down on Raheesuddin. He had, however, left home on the pretext of a religious programme.

A team was sent to Nainital, where he was last tracked but by then he had fled from there. He was finally tracked down in Delhi last night, the official added.

After the incident was reported, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, accusing him of “not paying attention to law and order in Delhi” and “creating hurdles” in the functioning of his government. He had alleged that “jungle raj” prevails all over the city.

On the sidelines of the press brief on the triple murder, Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat today said that the city has witnessed 10 per cent fall in murder cases compared to previous year.

He further said, in eight per cent cases, the killer is a close one and in 10 per cent cases, the accused and victim are found to be involved in sexual relationship. Around 17 per cent cases originate from sudden provocation.

When asked whether his comments were in context of the CM’s allegations of jungle raj in Delhi, Bhagat refused to comment.