A 28-year-old was allegedly beaten to death by a policeman and his accomplices in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar, said officers on Thursday.
New Ashok Nagar Station House Officer has been suspended for delay in registering FIR, said DCP (East) Priyanka Kashyap.
The police said they have arrested constable Monu Sirohi, who was posted in Pandav Nagar police station and his accomplice Harish, a resident of Laxmi Nagar.
The duo has been accused of kidnapping and murder.
The victim — Ajeet Kumar from New Kundli — was a vegetable vendor, an officer said.
Ms. Kashyap said a missing report of the victim was registered on June 13.
A case of abduction under Sections 365 and 34 of the IPC was registered on July 27. The accused were arrested on Wednesday.
Ajeet goes missing
The victim’s relative, who didn’t wish to be identified, said Ajeet went missing on June 4. They started looking for him and thought he must have gone to a relative’s house. However, after not being able to locate him for days, they reported the matter to the police on June 13.
“The investigating officer had told us that he would come and look into the CCTV footage of the area. But, he did not come. We continued to visit the police station and they kept ignoring us,” he said.
The victim’s family said a video of the incident was recorded by a local. In the video, four persons can be seen thrashing two men. One of them managed to flee the spot.
“We had also given the video to the police, but no action was taken,” he said.
The accused were later identified as constable Monu, Vikas, Vineet and Harish. The victims were Ajeet and his friend Atul.
On June 15, the family told the police that they suspect that Ajeet was abducted and killed. However, again, no action was taken.
When the video reached senior officers, an FIR was registered under Section 365 and 34 of the IPC and it was found that Monu was absconding. He was arrested from Bulandshahr, sources said.
During interrogation, he disclosed that on the night of the incident, he — in civil dress — was in his car with his three friends when they got into a fight with two passers-by — Ajeet and Atul.
Both sides drunk
Both sides were drunk at the time of the incident. The constable allegedly thrashed Ajeet to death, put his body in the car and dumped it in a waterbody in Uttar Pradesh. The police said sections of murder and criminal conspiracy, including other relevant sections, have been registered against the accused.
