Two men were arrested from Bihar for allegedly strangulating a 24-year-old Bhojpuri music composer to death over a financial dispute in Dwarka, police said on Wednesday.
Mukesh Chaudhary, a resident of Chapra in Bihar, was found dead in his rented flat in Dwarka’s Mohan Garden on June 13, they said. Police said he used to run a music studio at his apartment and had been staying there for the last one year.
A police team was sent to Bihar to trace the accused and Santhosh Kumar and Vicky. C were arrested.
Kumar, who is also a Bhojpuri music composer, has a YouTube channel with over two lakh subscribers. Vicky, also a Bhojpuri singer, worked for Kumar, the officer said. Kumar had composed around 1,000 songs by 200 Bhojpuri singers, while Vicky had recorded 50 songs and done three stage shows in Bihar, the police said.
On the intervening night of June 8 and 9, they strangulated Chaudhary with a computer wire. After killing him, they wrapped his body in a blanket and hid it under a table. They took Chaudhary’s music instruments, money and mobile phone and fled to Bihar, the police said.
On June 13, police received a call saying that a foul smell was emanating from a flat in the Nawada House Complex. A police team reached the flat and after breaking open the door, found Chaudhary’s body. His hands and legs were tied with a white piece of cloth and a white cable was found around his neck, they said, adding that the house was ransacked.
Footage from CCTV cameras was examined and in one of them, the suspects were seeing hurriedly leaving the flat and loading several items in an autorickshaw, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Dwarka, Anto Alphonse said. However, the identity of the suspects could not be established from the footage, he said.
The officer said after technical analysis, the last location of Chaudhary’s mobile phone was traced to Chapra. He said a police team was sent to Bihar and Kumar and Vicky were arrested. The booty was also recovered, Mr. Alphonse said.
“During interrogation, the accused told us that due to the lockdown, their business was not flourishing in Bihar. So they came to Delhi with a proposal to start a venture with Chaudhary to earn money. Kumar was very angry with Chaudhary for not giving him any money even after their partnership,” the DCP said.
Kumar said that Chaudhary deleted songs from his YouTube channel and blocked it after he shared the password, the officer said, adding that Vicky told the police that the victim after taking his songs, neither released them on social media platforms nor paid him.
It is suspected that Kumar and Vicky were in need of money and Chaudhary was harassing them. Kumar also had to pay his office rent of ₹80,000. They looted music equipment worth ₹2 lakh to repay the due, the officer said.
