YouTube rivalry leads to murder of Bhojpuri music composer in Delhi; 2 arrested

New Delhi, June 18

Two men were arrested from Bihar for allegedly strangulating a 24-year-old Bhojpuri music composer to death with a cable in Dwarka over a financial dispute, police said on Wednesday.

Mukesh Chaudhary, a resident of Chapra in Bihar, was found dead in his rented flat in Dwarka's Mohan Garden area on June 13, they said.

Police said he used to run a music studio at his apartment and had been staying there for the last one year.

Santhosh Kumar and Vicky C were arrested from Bihar by a police team sent there to trace them.

Kumar, who is also a Bhojpuri music composer, has a YouTube channel with over two lakh subscribers. He has his office in Saran in Bihar's Chapra district, a police official said. 

Vicky C, a  Bhojpuri singer, worked for Kumar, the official said.

Kumar has composed around 1,000 songs by 200 Bhojpuri singers, while Vicky has recorded 50 Bhojpuri songs and done three stage shows in Bihar, police said.

On the intervening night of June 8 and 9, they strangulated Chaudhary with a computer cable and after killing him, wrapped his body in a blanket and hid it under a table, they said. 

They took Chaudhary's musical instruments, money and mobile phone and fled to Bihar, police said.

On June 13, police received a call about a foul smell emanating from a flat in the Nawada House Complex in Dwarka.

Police said a team reached the flat and after breaking the door open found Chaudhary's body.

His hands and legs were tied with a white piece of cloth and a white cable was found around his neck, they said, adding that the house was ransacked.

Footage from CCTV cameras was examined and in one of them, the suspects were seeing hurriedly leaving the flat and loading several items in an auto-rickshaw, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Dwarka, Anto Alphonse said.

However, the identity of the suspects could not be established from the footage, he said. 

The officer said after technical analysis, the last location of Chaudhary's mobile phone was traced to Chapra.

He said a police team was sent to Bihar and Kumar and Vicky were arrested. The robbed items were also recovered, Alphonse said. 

Constable Sandeep fractured his left leg while chasing the accused, police said.

"During interrogation, the accused told us that due to (COVID-19) lockdown, their business was not flourishing in Bihar, and so they came to Delhi with a proposal to start a venture with Mukesh Chaudhary to earn money. Santosh was very angry with Mukesh for not giving him any money even after their partnership," the DCP said.

Kumar said Chaudhary deleted songs from his YouTube channel and blocked it after he shared the password, the officer said, adding that Vicky told police that the victim after taking his songs, neither released them on social media platforms nor paid him.

The DCP said that Chaudhary used to taunt Vicky over his cooking.

It is suspected that Kumar and Vicky were in need of money and Chaudhary was harassing them.

Kumar also had to pay his office's rent of Rs 80,000, he said.

They looted music equipment worth Rs 2 lakh to repay the due, the officer said. PTI 

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.