Two held for Kanpur man’s murder; body dumped in Solan dist

The Kandaghat police arrested two truck drivers last evening from Uttar Pradesh for murdering a Kanpur resident and dumping his body in bushes in the Waknaghat area.

On September 28, a Kanpur resident, Shiva, lodged a complaint at Kandaghat police station, alleging that his father Prem Narayan (58) had gone missing in the area.

A team of the Kandaghat police launched a search and found the body in a partially decomposed state in the bushes near a furniture showroom in the Waknaghat area two days later. After Shiva identified his father, a case of murder was registered. During the probe, the police found that the deceased used to maintain accounts for a company at Firozabad. On September 22, Prem Narayan was directed to accompany a truck loaded with glass items, which were to be delivered in Karnal, Panipat, Ambala, Solan and Shimla. Neeraj was the truck driver.

Prem called his son on September 25 and told him that goods had been delivered at Solan and that he would go to Shimla the next day.

The next day Neeraj called Shiva and told him that his father had gone missing, while maintaining that he would be traced. Neeraj switched off his phone in the evening.

The truck was found parked near Dhali police station in Shimla. During the investigation, it was also found that a Pickup truck, bearing Uttar Pradesh number, was following the vehicle in which Prem Narayan was travelling. After scrutinising CCTV footage and other technical evidence, the police arrested Neeraj Kumar (38), a resident of Oharia district in UP and Pickup driver Lakhan Singh (19), a resident of Firozabad in UP.

During the investigation, it was found that on September 23, Prem Narayan, along with truck driver Neeraj, had left Firozabad for Chandigarh, Solan and other places. Lakhan Singh also loaded goods from Firozabad in his Pickup truck and came to Chandigarh with his vehicle. On September 24, they headed towards Shimla from Solan to deliver the remaining goods.

After leaving Solan, they purchased liquor from a vend and stopped for lunch at a dhaba, where Neeraj and Prem Narayan had an heated argument over some issue. In a fit of rage, Neeraj allegedly strangulated Prem with a tarpaulin rope. The duo dumped the body in the bushes in the Waknaghat area and returned to Solan.

“Both vehicles have been seized and taken in police custody. Both drivers were being interrogated and their prior criminal records are being investigated,” Solan SP Gaurav Singh said.