Chandigarh: Bathinda youth’s murder cracked with arrest of three

Hours before the murder, the accused, along with another accomplice, had stabbed another man, a carpenter, in Chandigarh’s Daria village and snatched his wallet

The 26-year-old Bathinda youth who was stabbed to death at Pabhat village, Zirakpur, on March 11 was murdered by drug addicts looking to execute a robbery.

The accused in the custody of Chandigarh Police. (HT Photo)

Hours before the murder, the accused, along with another accomplice, had stabbed another man, a carpenter, in Chandigarh’s Daria village and snatched his wallet.

All three accused, Rintu, 23, and Amit Kumar, 18, wanted for the March 11 murder, and their accomplice, Rahul, 20, have been arrested by the Chandigarh Police.

While Rintu, a sanitation worker, is a resident of Ram Darbar; Amit, a labourer, lives in Mouli village, Mohali; and Rahul in Faidan Nizampur, Chandigarh. They were arrested from the forest area in Sector 48, near Faidan Barrier.

Apart from the murder and snatching on March 11, the trio was also behind a February 26 robbery, when they had snatched a Bihar native’s mobile phone and wallet in Daria after stabbing him. Rintu and Amit had also stabbed a man in Vikas Nagar, Mouli Jagran, on March 14, and another in Sector 47 on March 8, said police.

As per investigators, all three are drug addicts and had been committing crimes to fulfil their addiction. They said Rintu was named in as many as 10 criminal cases going back to 2012. Amit Kumar was also facing three cases from 2021 and 2022. Rahul has no criminal history.

All accused are currently in police remand, and police are working to recover the weapons used in the murder and robberies, along with the victims’ belongings.