Kidnapping, murder case cracked, two arrested

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 26

In a major breakthrough, the city police today cracked the case of mysterious disappearance of a property dealer, identified as Dhiraj Kumar, a resident of Kirpal Avenue in Chheharta, and arrested two persons in this connection.

Preliminary investigations revealed the accused, Rashpal Singh and Vishal Kumar, both residents of Shamsher Nagar (in Chheharta) burnt him alive after he fell unconscious. All three of them were drug addicts and had consumed heroin before Dhiraj was brutally killed.

Interestingly, the badly charred body of Dhiraj was recovered from a vacant place in the market on December 24. However, it was beyond recognition and the police had initiated action under the CrPC and kept the body in the dead house for 72 hours for identification.

In the meantime, his wife, Rekha Savlani, lodged a kidnapping case against the two accused. She stated to the police that her husband was a drug addict. On December 23, her husband along with the accused left home in a Toyata car bearing the number PB-02-BZ-5331. She said before leaving the house, he took Rs 3,000 with him. She said at around 9 pm, his mobile was switched off which disturbed the family and it tried to locate him.

She said the next morning, she approached Vishal Kumar and asked him about her husband. Vishal told her he along with Rashpal had showed him a house for sale and after that they did not know where he had gone. Rekha said she went to Rashpal who said he had not met Dhiraj for the past couple of days. She along with her relatives tried to search for her husband, but in vain. She later accused the two of abducting him. Following her statement, the police had registered a case under Section 365 and 34, IPC.

Arun Sharma, SHO, Chheharta police station, said during the probe it became clear the two had picked Dhiraj up from his home. They were strictly interrogated which led to the cracking of the case. He said Rashpal and Vishal would be produced in the court tomorrow for seeking their police remand for further interrogation. He said the police had recovered the scooter of the victim on the information provided by the two accused.

He said the accused had been charged with murder and causing disappearance of evidence, adding Sections 302 and 201, IPC.