Altercation over robbery led to Nims Badal’s murder: Goa Police

Tribune News Service

Archit Watts

Muktsar, February 6

During the preliminary investigation in the murder of 77-year-old Narottam Singh Dhillon, alias Nims Badal, who was found dead in his villa in north Goa on Sunday morning, the Goa Police have found that it was a case of robbery, which led to his killing after an altercation between him and an unmarried boy and a girl from Bhopal, who had come to his villa on Saturday night. The victim and suspects came to know each other through Instagram, but how the altercation started and why they were invited to his villa was still a matter of investigation, said the police.

An ace businessman, Nims was a nephew of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and a native of Badal village here. He owned several properties in Goa, Delhi, Shimla and Badal village and lived a lavish life, say his relatives. “He was fond of expensive and rare whiskies. In fact, he lived a life of a royal. For the past few years, he was living alone and away from all politicians in the family. Before returning to India in 1994, he had Ferrari car dealership and diamond business in the US. He was once declared a fugitive there and faced a false case of tax evasion as well. Earlier, he spent some time in Canada. Once he had more expensive articles in his house than any other in the entire Badal clan,” claimed a relative of the deceased.

As per the Goa police, goods worth about Rs 47 lakh were missing from the villa, including a new SUV, which the suspects had taken on rent, a gold bracelet, a gold chain and a cellphone. These all have been recovered now, said the police.

Speaking on the phone today, Inspector Rahul Parab, in-charge, Porvorim police station in Goa, said that, “In the post-mortem report, it has come out that the deceased was smothered with a pillow. The body had some injury marks and scratches. The boy and the girl are presently on a 10-day police remand. They were caught by Mumbai police and brought here on transit remand. A third person was also accompanying them when the stolen SUV was tracked through the GPS, but he is on the run. We are verifying his role. The suspects are not having any criminal background. The boy is working with a stock trading company and the girl as a sales representative at an electronics showroom in Bhopal. We have registered a case under Sections 302 and 392-A of the IPC against them.”

About the reports that the deceased allegedly tried to molest the girl, which led to an altercation and murder, the Inspector said that no police officer had so far given such a statement and all were speculations of the media.

Those arrested have been identified as Jitendra Ramchandra Sahu and Nitu Shankar Rahuja. Meanwhile, the Porvorim police today claimed to have recorded the statement of the deceased’s son.

The police claimed that the deceased owned one villa and had taken two nearby villas on rent, which he used to sublet further. “Besides, he had taken several properties on rent as well, which are presently not a part of our investigation. There are some CCTV cameras installed outside the villa, but not inside. This is just the second day today and we will soon solve the case. The family has not informed us about the deceased having enmity with anyone,” said a police officer.

On the other hand, none from SAD chief Sukhbir Badal’s family has so far given a statement on this incident.

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