The murder was discovered in the morning after the owner of the house, Justice (retd) S. P. Goyal, returned from Delhi after three days. When his driver, Avtar Singh, went to Goyal's house at 10 a.m. to take the car, he found the door adjacent to garage open. He found things scattered in the room. Suspecting foul play, he went to the railway station on his own scooter without taking the car as the main gate of the house was locked.

However when Goyal and Avtar reached the residence, they found Gopal's body lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom. The police were immediately informed and SP Alok Mittal, DSP J. P. Dahiya, CJM Ved Pal Gupta reached the house. It is suspected that some persons had come to meet Gopal on Tuesday night and had drinks with him as the police have recovered some liquor bottles and snacks from the kitchen. Moreover the body of Gopal was also smelling of liquor.

Gopal's head was smashed with the ceiling fan that was found lying near the body. SP said the police suspect that Gopal was murdered by the same people who had consumed liquor with him. Mittal added that there was no forced entry into the house. He said Gopal was probably murdered in the lobby of the house and his body was dragged to the bathroom and they had tried to hide the blood stains by covering it with a mattress of the diwan. It is suspected that the house was ransacked after he was murdered. Three wrist watches and a still camera were missing.

Gopal belonged to Almora in UP and had worked with the Army before he started working at Goyal's residence. Goyal stays alone in the house as his wife had expired sometime back and one of his son's had visited him last week.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Mittal, who is related to Goyal, claimed that he had talked to the servant yesterday at around 8:30 p.m. and that Gopal was sounding fine at that time.

Neighbours say that Gopal was a drunkard. They also claimed that a Nepali woman used to visit him when Goyal was away. The police are on the look out for the Nepali woman. Neighbours add a couple of days back an old driver of Goyal had come over to the residence and had called up a maid-servant on telephone. But instead of the maid, the owners of the residence where the call was made came there. After an altercation, the driver was handed over to the police while Gopal had fled away from the scene.

The police have rounded up some persons for questioning. The dog squad was brought by the police which stopped at the sector 7/8 roundabout. A team of forensic experts was also called and a case has been registered under Section 460 of the IPC.