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Eyeing quick buck, duo books cab ride, murders driver; held
The accused have been identified as Resham Singh, 22, alias Naib Singh, of Giana village in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, and Punjabdeep Singh, 23, of Sahnewala village, Mansa
Their mind set on getting money for drugs by hook or by crook, two Class-4 employees of a private hospital in Mohali stabbed a cab driver to death after booking a ride and dumped his body in a manhole before making off with the vehicle.
Almost two weeks after the May 3 crime, police tracked the accused and arrested them on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Resham Singh, 22, alias Naib Singh, of Giana village in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, and Punjabdeep Singh, 23, of Sahnewala village, Mansa.
While Punjabdeep was arrested from Sector 70, Resham was nabbed from near Godrej Factory in Phase 8B, Industrial Area.
The accused disclosed the location where they dumped the body, following which police recovered it from a manhole in Sector 104 before handing it over to the family. The victim’s car and four mobile phones, including the one used to book the cab ride, have been recovered from the accused.
The victim, Dayanand Sharma, 21, hailed from Una in Himachal Pradesh and was currently living in Phase 7, Mohali.
“On May 10, the Mataur police station received information that a cab driver, Dayanand Sharma, was missing for over a week. Soon after receiving the complaint, police registered a case of wrongful confinement in secret under Section 346 of the Indian Penal Code and started investigation,” said superintendent of police (SP, City) Akashdeep Singh.
Mataur station house officer (SHO) Gabbar Singh said during probe, it came to light that the victim was working for online cab service “inDrive”. His movement data was sought from the company and it was found that he had ferried his uncle from Sector 43 to Sector 69 on the intervening night between May 2 and 3.
Around 1.30 am, he received another cab booking from one Rahul, a Class-4 employee at Grecian Hospital, Sector 69.
As police questioned Rahul, he revealed that his colleague Resham had thrashed him and his snatched his mobile phone on May 1 and had been missing ever since.
The hiring contractor, Gurdeep Singh, also confirmed that Resham and another Class-4 employee Punjabdeep Singh were missing since May 1.
After securing vital leads in the case, police maintained a watch on the duo’s activities. “They had fled to Bathinda with the cab driver’s vehicle. As they returned to Mohali to hunt for another victim, police nabbed them,” the SHO said.
“They are both drug addicts. Further investigation is on in the matter, as they may be involved in more such cases,” he added.
Had landed a well-built driver first
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were school dropouts and desperate to make quick money. Therefore, they hatched a plan to book a cab, kill the driver and make off with the vehicle.
The duo revealed that they first booked a cab on May 1, but the cab driver turned out to be well-built, so they cancelled the ride. They tried again on the intervening night between May 2 and 3, and Dayanand picked their request.
The duo booked the cab till Bathinda. As the vehicle crossed Sector 68, they told the cab driver that one of their friends also wished to join them. While keeping Dayanand engaged in conversation, one of the accused grabbed him by the neck, forcing him to stop the car.
The other accused then stabbed him multiple times, killing him on the spot. Thereafter, the duo dumped the weapon and blood-soaked car matts near City Park in Sector 68. They drove to Sector 104, where they dumped the body in a manhole and then fled to Bathinda.
