Murder of electrician solved after 72 days, was killed by man who borrowed ₹1 lakh from him

Two months after the body of a 30-year-old electrician was discovered on a roadside in east Delhi’s Karkardooma, the police on Monday said his 49-year-old friend had murdered him over a ₹1 lakh debt

Two months after the body of a 30-year-old electrician was discovered on a roadside in east Delhi’s Karkardooma, the police on Monday said his 49-year-old friend had murdered him over a ₹1 lakh debt. The friend and his associate was arrested in connection with the case, police said.

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The dead man, identified as Deepak Kumar, ran an electrical and motor rewinding shop in Shahdara. Those arrested were identified as tax consultant Rajneesh Kumar Jain, and his associate property dealer 51-year-old Shamsher Singh.

The murder took place at Jain’s rented flat in Arjun Nagar near Karkardooma and the body was transported over a kilometer away to Karkardooma Institutional Area in a Santro car, police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said on January 23, the Anand Vihar police were informed about an unidentified body near the MTNL building in Karkardooma Institutional Area. The body was preserved at a government hospital mortuary as nobody in the neighbourhood could identify it. The DCP said the police uploaded the dead man’s photograph and physical description on to the zonal integrated police network (ZIPNET)..

Twelve days later, DCP Sathiyasundaram said, a person named Lalit approached the police and identified the dead man as his brother. The autopsy was conducted and its report confirmed that Kumar died of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. A murder case was registered, and the investigating teams questioned Kumar’s relatives, friends, and people working at his shop.

“We finally zeroed in on Kumar’s friend Jain and interrogated him. Jain confessed to the crime and his interrogation also led to the arrest of his associate Singh,” added the DCP.

Police said Jain revealed that he had borrowed ₹1 lakh from Kumar. As Kumar had taken the money on loan too, he was under pressure from private lenders to return it. To avoid the money lenders, Kumar had started living at Jain’s house from January 18, they added.

On January 22 night, an argument allegedly broke out between Jain and Kumar over the issue. Jain allegedly hit Kumar with a blunt object and then strangled him to death. Jain later allegedly called Singh and the duo shifted Kumar’s body, said the DCP.

“They threw Kumar’s bag, clothes, and an electrical equipment kit in the Yamuna from the Wazirabad area,” he said.