Delhi cop held for murder used his investigative nous to wipe evidence

All his tricks worked to an extent, as the crime was not detected for nearly two months.

The investigating team probing the murder of a 28-year-old fruit vendor, who was allegedly killed by Delhi Police constable Monu Sirohi and his four associates on June 4, presented their chargesheet in the case before the Karkardooma court last week, said senior police officers privy to the development.

During the altercation with the fruit vendor and his friend, Sirohi identified himself as a policeman. (Representative photo)

From removing the victim’s clothes and all identification documents before dumping the body in the Ganga canal, disposing the clothes he and his two associates wore at the time of the crime into the Hindon canal, to washing the car used in the crime and replacing its seat covers and foot mats with new ones, Sirohi used all his investigative skills to ensure the murder he committed with his associates was never detected, police said quoting the chargesheet.

All his tricks worked to an extent, as the crime was not detected for nearly two months. When the crime finally came to the fore, it was too late for the police to recover the victim’s body from the canal and other important evidence related to the murder, said police.

Posted at the Pandav Nagar police station, 33-year-old Sirohi and his four accomplices were arrested between July end and the first week of August on the alleged charges of assaulting, kidnapping and murdering Ajeet Kumar, a fruit vendor, over a road rage in east Delhi’s New Kondli and dumping his body in the Ganga canal in Uttar Pradesh’s Muradnagar on the night of June 4.

The crime came to the fore on July 29--nearly 56 days later--when a 3.06 minutes-long video, which shows four men assaulting Kumar and his friend Atul, was brought to the attention of the police by Kumar’s family, who filed a missing complaint on June 13, nine days after Kumar went missing, said the chargesheet that runs into over 500 pages.

The other arrested persons were identified as Sirohi’s relative Vikas Sirohi (32), Vineet (42), Harish (33), and Suraj, a 41-year-old habitual offender who has multiple cases registered against him at New Ashok Nagar police station. Harish is an AC mechanic by profession while Vikas and Vineet had private jobs. All the five are in jail.

Despite solving the case and arresting the suspects, police could not recover Kumar’s body even as they scanned the canal along 15 districts of UP –from Ghaziabad to Etawah. Police have neither been able to recover the clothes of the accused from Hindon canal, nor the seat covers and foot mats of Sirohi’s Swift car.

The available evidence the police have against the accused are the video clip, testimony of Kumar’s friend Atul and technical data to establish the location of the suspects around the crime scene. The sample of a blood stain found in Sirohi’s car has been sent to the forensic lab for matching its DNA with Kumar’s mother’s DNA, said a senior investigator.

“Being a policeman, Sirohi knew how the police investigate and solve crimes. He used his investigative skills to destroy all evidence. We are hoping the DNA of the blood sample that forensic experts have collected from Sirohi’s car matches with the DNA of Kumar’s mother. In the absence of Kumar’s body, DNA matching is the only way through which we can link the murder,” said the investigator.

What happened on June 4

Quoting the disclosures of the arrested persons, the police in their chargesheet have said that on the evening of June 4, Sirohi consumed liquor at his barrack in New Ashok Nagar police station with his three friends--- Vikas, Vineet and Harish. Thereafter, all four left in Sirohi’s car to have dinner and reached New Kondli, where Kumar and Atul were present. Kumar allegedly banged his hand on the car’s bonnet, which infuriated Sirohi and this led to an altercation.

“Sirohi and his associates began assaulting Kumar as the latter hurled abuses at them. Atul fled when Sirohi identified himself as a policeman. The four then bundled Kumar into the car and drove away, without realising that Kumar’s neighbour was capturing all their actions on his mobile phone. The neighbour did not tell anyone about the assault because of the enmity his family had with Kumar’s family,” said another investigator.

In the chargesheet, the police said Sirohi parked his car in a forested area near Akshardham temple--the police beat where he was usually deployed, brought Kumar out while others remained seated in the car, went deeper into the forested area and strangled Kumar to death. When Sirohi said that he killed Kumar, his associates panicked and Vineet fled the spot. Sirohi, Vikas and Harish returned to the police station, from where Harish also fled.

Since Sirohi knew that Kumar’s body will be discovered in the morning, he decided to get rid of it. He called Suraj and sought his assistance in disposing Kumar’s body. Suraj arrived and the three went to the murder spot, bundled Kumar’s body into the car’s boot and left for Muradnagar, said the second officer.

“Suraj used his police ID to avoid paying toll tax. They first removed Kumar’s clothes and identification documents and then dumped his body into the Ganga canal. Thereafter, they threw their clothes into Hindon canal on their way back to Delhi. Sirohi dropped Suraj and Vikas at their homes before returning to his barrack. The next morning, he washed his car and changed its seat covers and mats in the Mayur Vihar area. Thereafter, he went on medical leave for nearly 20 days,” said the officer.

How the case was cracked

Police said Kumar’s family suspected the role of the family in their neighbourhood behind him going missing for days and alleged foul play when the video clip emerged. Police learnt that the video was made by a member of the family against whom Kumar’s family raised allegations. The neighbour was questioned and the clip was found in his phone. The clip was shared with a personnel of the local police station. A policeman identified one of the attackers as Sirohi.

“Sirohi was made to join the investigation. Initially, he tried to mislead the police by claiming that he was innocent. He confessed to the crime when we showed him the video clip and confronted him with location of his cellphone on the day the crime was committed. His interrogation led to the arrest of the other four men from Delhi and Jaipur. Although the car was property washed, forensic experts still found a blood stain in the car’s hood,” said the second investigator.