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Mohali: Bihar man arrested in Sector-78 murder case
The victim, Sureshpal, supplied grocery items to various stores in Mohali; ge had left home without informing anyone on May 11
Eight days after the decomposed body of a 36-year-old man from Mauli Baidwan village was found in the forest area near the sports stadium along Airport Road in Sector 78, Mohali police on Thursday arrested the accused, who confessed to murdering the victim with the intention of robbing him for buying drugs.
While addressing the media on Thursday, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Mohali, Harmandeep Singh Hans said the accused has been identified as 24-year-old Mukesh Kumar, a native of Hanuman Mandir, Kataria Station village, Bhagalpur district, Bihar. Mukesh ran a tyre repair shop and lived in Sohana. He is reportedly a habitual drug user. Police apprehended him while he was fleeing near Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan. He sustained injuries during the escape and is currently undergoing treatment at Sohana Hospital.
The SSP stated that during interrogation, Mukesh confessed that he is illiterate. Mukesh further admitted that on the night of May 11, he saw Sureshpal, the victim, lying in an intoxicated state near Triangle Park, along the service road between Sectors 78 and 79. Seeing an opportunity, he tried to rob him. During the robbery attempt, a scuffle ensued. He dragged Sureshpal from the park to a deserted area, where he repeatedly struck him on the head with stones, causing his death. To destroy evidence, he removed Sureshpal’s clothes, hung his trousers on a tree, and dragged his body into the bushes using his shirt. He then fled the scene.
The interrogation further revealed that Mukesh already had two criminal cases registered against him at the Sohana police station, one in 2018 and another in 2019, involving charges of assault, robbery, and theft.
In this case, an FIR was initially registered against an unidentified person under Sections 103(1) (punishment for murder) and 3(5) (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Sohana police station. Mukesh has now been named as the accused.
The victim, Sureshpal, supplied grocery items to various stores in Mohali. He had left home without informing anyone on May 11. His brother, Nirmal Kumar, last spoke to him at 8.45 pm that night. During the conversation, Sureshpal had mentioned that he was in Sector 79. His phone was switched off shortly afterwards. A missing person report was filed by Nirmal at the Sohana police station on May 13. The next day, while searching for him, his decomposed body was discovered by his brother in the woods.
