NEW DELHI: A 48-year-old man, identified as Anroop Gupta, was killed; his body was chopped, and the remains were disposed of in the Yamuna near Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh.
The victim was fond of wearing gold rings and bracelets and was living separately from his family, which lured the accused to hatch the conspiracy of his murder, said police.
Four individuals, including a woman, were arrested who have been identified as Happy, alias Suraj (29); Bhupender (27); Balram (28), all residents of Haryana; and Rakhi (21), a resident of UP.
The key conspirator, Happy, had befriended the victim before planning the murder. The investigation began after a missing report was lodged on February 23 at Dwarka North police station, where the complainant informed them that his brother Gupta, a resident of Dwarka Sector-14 who runs a canteen at Chhattisgarh Sadan at Dwarka Sector-13, had been missing since February 18, and his car was also not traceable.
The details of the car were obtained from NHAI authorities, and it was found that the vehicle was last seen on the intervening night of February 19 and 20 at Yamuna Motorway.
CCTV footage on toll plazas revealed that the car went towards Vrindavan and returned towards Noida within a few hours. CCTV footage of Chattisgarh Sadan was also checked, and it transpired that on February 18, Gupta booked a bike for travel, leaving his car at Chattisgarh Sadan, DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said.
The bike rider was traced, and at his instance, a house in Matiala Extension was identified where he had dropped Gupta. The CCTV cameras showed Gupta entering the building but never saw him coming out. Four other people were also seen entering the building after Gupta. Thereafter, suspicious movements of the alleged persons were traced.
On February 19, the victim’s car was seen entering the basement of the building. After some time, the car was again seen coming out of the building and going towards Vrindavan, the DCP said.
Happy disclosed that about one year ago, he came in contact with Gupta and noticed that he wears many gold rings and bracelets. Hence, Happy, along with his friends, hatched a conspiracy to abduct Gupta and to extort money from him. On February 18, Happy called Gupta for a party at his rented accommodation at Matiala Extension where they assaulted and killed him. Four of them were apprehended, and efforts underway to trace the accused Neeraj, police added.