A 20-year-old was killed by five friends in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district during a scuffle that broke out when he shamed them for living lavishly off his money, the Noida police said on Thursday, adding that four of the accused have been arrested.
A senior officer said Rachit Nagar was arrested on Wednesday while Sumit Singh, Sushant Verma, and Shivam Singh were caught the following night, adding that a search is on to nab Shubham Chaudhary.
All five men and the victim, Yash Mittal belong to Amroha’s Gajraula village, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Saad Miya Khan said the police were on Wednesday informed that Yash, a BBA student at Greater Noida’s Bennett University, had not returned to his hostel since Tuesday night.
“Analysis of CCTV footage found that Yash had left the university campus safely, entered his car while talking to somebody on the phone, and left,” Mr. Khan said.
The police analysed Mittal’s call detail record, which led them to Rachit.
“During interrogation, Rachit revealed he had a party on Tuesday night at his farmland in Gajraula with the victim and the other accused. While they were having alcohol, a scuffle erupted where Mittal taunted his friends by calling them ‘poor’ and said he was funding their lavish lifestyle. The accused then strangulated him, dug up a 6-foot pit in the forests of nearby Tigariya with a shovel brought by Nagar, and buried the body,” the senior officer said.
Following Rachit’s inputs, Yash’s body was exhumed on Wednesday and checkpoints were set up the next day under the Dadri police station limits to catch Sumit, 24, Sushant, 24, and Shivam, 23.
Gunfight
The DCP said a police team intercepted the three accused on a bike and they tried to flee. “The accused fired at the team but were arrested after a brief gunfight near Dadha roundabout in which they received minor injuries,” he added.
According to the senior officer, the culprits took Yash’s mobile phone after killing him to cover their tracks. They even tried to mislead the search for Yash by sending text messages to his father claiming to have kidnapped him and demanding crores of rupees as ransom, the officer added.
Earlier bid
The senior officer also said that the accused had intended to kill Yash in a similar fashion by calling him to a party on February 14, but he had not responded to their phone calls.
Mr. Khan said two cases have been registered in the matter. While all five accused have been booked under Sections 364A (demand for ransom after kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, the trio arrested on Thursday has also been booked under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.
Published - March 01, 2024 04:08 am IST
