Ludhiana: Friend runs over auto driver with jeep, bludgeons, stabs him to death for ₹10,000
A man and his aide were arrested for allegedly murdering an auto driver over a dispute of ₹10,000, officials said on Monday.
{Body fished out from Buddha Nullah}
A man and his aide were arrested for allegedly murdering an auto driver over a dispute of ₹10,000, officials said on Monday.
According to police, the accused first ran over the victim, Shalu Kumar, in their Mahindra Bolero car. After running him over, the accused, Kallu and Sunil Kumar, hit the victim with a brick. As the victim survived that as well, the accused stabbed him to death.
The accused then dumped Shalu’s body into the Buddha Nullah near Ludhiana Central Jail at Tajpur road. It was fished out on Sunday after locals noticed it and raised an alarm. According to police, the victim was friends with the key accused, Kallu.
Police claimed to have solved the case within three hours of recovering the body and both the accused are residents of EWS Colony.
The police impounded the Mahindra Bolero used to run over the auto driver.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP City 4) Prabhjot Singh Virk said the Division Number 7 police recovered the body on Sunday. He said the police suspected it to be a murder and believed the body was disposed of in the Buddha Nullah.
After the body’s recovery, police made announcements in the surrounding areas and one Neetu Kumari identified the victim as her husband.
Following Neetu’s statement, the Division Number 7 police registered a case on murder charges and took up an investigation.
“The woman said she found that her husband was last seen with one of his friends, Kallu. The police started zeroing in on him and picked him up for questioning. The accused tried to throw off the investigation and claimed he had not met Shalu in a while. On being questioned harshly, the accused confessed to the crime,” said the ADCP.
“The accused said he had snatched ₹1,000 from Shalu and the latter was forcing him to return the money. However, he did not wish to do so. On the intervening night of August 16 and 17, he called Shalu near Ludhiana Central Jail on the pretext of returning the money. When Shalu turned up, he ran him over. To confirm his death, he bludgeoned him with a brick and stabbed him with a sharp-edged weapon. He later dumped the body with Sunil’s help and fled,” the ADCP added.
ADCP Virk said Sunil is already facing trial in a case of theft registered at the Moti Nagar police station. The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem, he said.
