The man accused of killing a 34-year-old in Taimoor Nagar for sale of drugs also murdered a cab driver in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur, the police said on Friday.
Three men were involved in the murder of 40-year-old cab driver Umesh Sharma on September 9, the police said. While two of them, including alleged shooter Akash Singh (25), have been arrested, the third suspect is absconding.
Akash and his two friends were on a joyride in a stolen car on September 9 when they got into a confrontation over parking with Umesh in south Delhi, the police said.
Akash allegedly shot Umesh at close range before speeding away. The trio then dumped the stolen car in east Delhi’s Ghazipur and checked into a hotel. The police said Akash is a trigger-happy criminal, who has over half-a-dozen other cases against him.
“After each crime, Akash would stay off the police radar by staying in a hotel. He would never carry a mobile phone,” the officer said.
Car recovered
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Vijay Kumar said the same pistol was used in both the murders [Taimoor Nagar and Mubarakpur] and has been recovered. The sedan has also been recovered from a neighbourhood in Ghazipur, he added.
“The car used during the September 9 incident was stolen from Jangpura two weeks before the murder. The same car was stolen earlier in 2015 from East of Kailash but was recovered from Noida,” Mr. Kumar said.
After killing Umesh, the trio committed more crimes, including the murder of Rupesh Basoya in Taimoor Nagar. Akash and his two friends were arrested for Rupesh’s murder, thanks to a CCTV camera that captured their attempted robbery at a Mehrauli eatery.
Modus operandi
“Akash’s modus operandi was revealed during interrogation. It made the police suspect his involvement in Umesh’s murder. The fact that the same pistol had been used in both the murders, strengthened the suspicion. We also had CCTV footage of the car used in the murder,” Mr. Kumar said.
Akash and his accomplice were found involved in 28 crimes. Of these, the police have CCTV footage of 15 incidents.
