Gurugram model murder case: 3 sent to 5-day police remand, car recovered from Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala/Gurugram, January 4

In a breakthrough in the sensational Gurugram murder case of model Divya Pahuja, the vehicle used in the crime has been recovered by the Patiala police, even as three accused have been sent to five-day police remand in Gurugram.

Divya was ‘blackmailing’ hotel owner

• The police took all three arrested accused on a five-day police remand after producing them in a city court.
• Gangster Virender, alias Binder Gujjar, lodged in a Mumbai jail, has also come under the scanner after the main accused, Abhijeet, revealed that he had been in contact with him for the past 15 years.
• Binder had introduced Divya to him around three months back, and she had allegedly extorted over Rs 6 lakh from Abhijeet.
• The accused, who has a degree in engineering, said she had been blackmailing him. He got fed up and arranged a meeting with her for a one-time settlement, but she demanded a huge amount. In a fit of rage, he shot her. — OC

The police confirmed that they had recovered the abandoned BMW car (DDO3K2400), but the body was missing, even though bloodstains were found in the boot.

Divya, a slain gangster’s girlfriend, was shot dead at a Gurugram hotel yesterday. The police have arrested three men in connection with her murder, and hunt is on to trace the body and the other accused.

The 27-year-old Gurugram-based model had recently secured bail after seven years in connection with an alleged fake encounter of Gurugram’s most-wanted gangster, Sandeep Gadoli.

Senior officials said the Gurugram police had been informed that the car had been recovered from the Urban Estate area of Patiala. “Inter-state agencies are working closely to solve the case. We have informed our counterparts in Gurugram and forensic teams are inspecting the vehicle,” said SSP Varun Sharma.

“Teams of Patiala and Gurugram police are trying to study the route taken by the car through CCTVs and toll plazas at Ambala, Channo, Dhareri Jattan, etc., from January 3 till January 5,” said senior officials.

“We are working closely with the Gurugram police party, which has reached Patiala,” said the SSP.

Another officer said it seemed that the car was abandoned on Wednesday, and someone tipped-off the police. The route of the car through various toll plazas was being mapped. “We are hopeful to crack the case and get some whereabouts about the body. We suspect that it might have been dumped into the Bhakhra Canal, or set on fire,” he stated.

Divya was allegedly killed by Abhijeet Singh, the owner of a hotel where she was staying, and his employees Hemraj and Om Prakash on Tuesday.

The police have accessed CCTV footage, where the accused can be seen fleeing the crime spot in a blue BMW car, and placing the body in the boot.

“The accused who had transported the body have been identified as Balraj Gill and Ravi Bandra, and are absconding. Gill, who lives in Mohali, was called by Abhijeet to dump the body. Two mobile phones, one belonging to Divya and another to Abhijeet, have been recovered. An illegal weapon was used in the murder. The car is registered in the name of Ajay Mehta, a resident of west Delhi, who mortgaged it to Abhijeet for Rs 20 lakh,” said Vijay Pratap Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Gurugram.

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