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Ludhiana: Cabbie’s acquaintance nabbed, says murder was ‘pre-planned’
The accused, Satpal, 50, of Ram Darbar, Phase 1, Chandigarh, murdered the taxi driver, 26-year-old Ravi Kumar, also a resident of Chandigarh’s Ram Darbar, as he nursed a grudge against him
Two days after the murder of a Chandigarh-based taxi driver, police on Monday said they solved the case and arrested an acquaintance of the deceased. The accused, Satpal, 50, of Ram Darbar, Phase 1, Chandigarh, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh.
According to police, the accused murdered the taxi driver, 26-year-old Ravi Kumar, also a resident of Chandigarh’s Ram Darbar, as he nursed a grudge against him. Officials said the accused is being questioned to determine what led to the grudge.
The incident happened near Samrala’s Harion village in the wee hours of Saturday.
The crime was initially believed to have been committed during a carjacking as the victim’s taxi, a Maruti Suzuki Alto car, was missing from the spot.
The accused confessed that he drove away the vehicles to throw the cops off his scent. The car was recovered from a parking lot in Old Tehsil, Dera Bassi, based on information provided by the accused during questioning.
After parking the vehicle there, the accused fled and was nabbed on Monday from Mansulpur village in UP’s Muzaffarnagar.
The police also recovered a pistol, two magazines and six bullets from his possession.
Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashwini Gotyal said the accused confessed to hatching a conspiracy to kill Ravi Kumar because of an old grudge he nursed.
The SSP said the accused hired the victim’s taxi on August 9 to go to Ludhiana on August 10. In the wee hours of August 10, the accused shot Ravi Kumar in the chest when they were near Ghulal Toll barrier near Samrala. The accused then drove away the taxi to mislead police, the SSP added.
“After being shot, Ravi managed to call his father Jai Kumar and inform him that he had been shot. He also shared his location with his father, who then approached the police. However, Ravi succumbed before help arrived. The Samrala police had registered a first-information report (FIR) under sections 103 (1) and 312 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and relevant sections of Arms Act,” SSP Gotyal said.
“The police formed multiple teams and traced the accused. During questioning, the accused told police that he drove away the taxi to prove that the crime was a carjacking incident,” he added.
The accused hails from UP and is also facing trial in another murder case registered in Meerut. He was bailed out in February.
The SSP said that police are questioning the accused to find out where he procured the weapon from.
According to SSP Gotyal, the victim was a Class four employee at a hospital in Chandigarh and a part-time taxi driver.
