The 26-year-old man who was suspected to have died after being hit by a vehicle in Phase 8 on February 7 was in fact strangled to death before being run over by a car, police said on Wednesday.
The revelation came to fore after the autopsy of the victim, Lalit Kumar, alias Sonu, a resident of Sector 52, Chandigarh.
Cracking the case soon after, police have arrested three men for the murder.
Identified as Dalip Yadav of Chandigarh, Ravikant of Zirakpur and Johny Kumar of Ambala, the trio has confessed to the crime, police said.
“They have been booked for the murder of Lalit Kumar as well as destruction of evidence and misplacing the body,” said inspector Ajitesh Kaushal, station house officer (SHO), Phase 8, Mohali.
Victim murdered for affair with accused’s wife: Police
On February 7, Lalit, who was unmarried and worked with a private company in Mohali, was found dead behind Gurdwara Amb Sahib in Phase 8.
“The victim seemed to have died in a road accident. But the post-mortem examination proved that he was killed by strangulation and then run over by a car. On learning this, police intensified the probe and zeroed in on Dalip who confessed to killing Lalit for having an illicit relationship with his wife,” the SHO said.
{{/usCountry}}“The victim seemed to have died in a road accident. But the post-mortem examination proved that he was killed by strangulation and then run over by a car. On learning this, police intensified the probe and zeroed in on Dalip who confessed to killing Lalit for having an illicit relationship with his wife,” the SHO said.
{{/usCountry}}The police official said on discovering Lalit’s affair with his wife, Dalip had warned him, but Lalit did not pay heed. Enraged, Dalip hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Lalit with the help of his two friends.
During questioning, he revealed that he and his friends invited Lalit for a drinking session in their car on February 7. There, they strangled Lalit to death and ran over his body with the car to mislead the police.
Investigating officer Bhupinder Singh said initially they had registered a case against the unknown car driver under Sections 304-A (causing death due to negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the Indian Penal Code, but now Sections 302 (murder) and 204 (destruction of evidence) had been added to the FIR.
The accused were produced in court and sent to five-day police remand.