Divya Pahuja’s body dumped in Bhakra canal, search still on: Police

Body of Divya Pahuja, who was shot dead in a Gurugram hotel, was dumped in a canal near Patiala by one of the men who disposed of her body.

The Gurugram police on Friday said that the body of Divya Pahuja — who was shot dead at a city hotel last week — was dumped in the Bhakra canal near Patiala in Punjab on January 3, a day after she was murdered. Police based their information on disclosures made by Balraj Gill, one of the men who allegedly disposed of her body.

Pahuja, 27, was an accused in the alleged fake encounter of dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli, was out on bail after spending seven years in prison.

The development comes a day after Gill was apprehended at the Kolkata airport while trying to fly to New Delhi. A Gurugram police team on Friday obtained his transit remand from a Kolkata court, and the police and the suspect were en route to Gurugram at the time this report was filed.

The deceased’s body, however, still remains missing. Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Varun Kumar Dahiya said efforts are on to find the body, and further questioning of Gill would be conducted to expedite the recovery.

Pahuja, 27, an accused in the alleged fake encounter of dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli, was out on bail after spending seven years in prison when she was killed on January 2. Police said she was allegedly blackmailing Abhijeet Singh, a hotel owner in the city, who purportedly shot her dead at one of his properties. Police arrested Singh and three others in connection with the case.

However, two of Singh’s associates — Gill and Ravi Bandra — fled Gurugram with the body in a blue BMW sedan. While police recovered the vehicle from Patiala on January 4, the two suspects remained missing, as did Pahuja’s body.

Subsequently, the Gurugram police issued look-out circulars (LOCs) against Gill and Bandra on January 10, and offered rewards for information leading to their arrest. The LOCs led to Gill’s detention at the Kolkata airport on Thursday, officers said.

Dahiya said they had received specific input about Gill’s movement, following which they alerted the Kolkata police. “Besides, Central Industrial Security force (CISF) and Airports Authority of India officials at Kolkata airport were also alerted, following which Gill was detained before he could board a flight. A Gurugram police team reached Kolkata to arrest him and took him on transit remand,” Dahiya said.

An investigator associated with the case, on condition of anonymity, said that Gill had bought a flight ticket to New Delhi through a digital wallet, and was attempting to board his flight when he was identified by CISF staff who detained him. He said Gill wanted to reach his home in the Capital to collect his passport and flee abroad.

The investigator said that Gill was taken on a transit remand on Friday after being produced before a Kolkata court. “During the transit, Gill revealed that he and Banga fled with Pahuja’s body from Gurugram to Punjab, and on their way, dumped the body in the Bhakra canal on the outskirts of Patiala. They then fled to Chandigarh, from where they took a train to Howrah in West Bengal,” he said.

About Banga, the investigator said that Gill revealed that once they reached Howrah, the two suspects went their separate ways. “Gill said that Banga told him that he would go to another state and stay with a friend,” the investigator said.

Dahiya said Banga’s pictures have been circulated in the Kolkata area so that police can receive information regarding him.

Meanwhile, Pahuja’s sister Naina demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in the case. “We want Haryana chief minister ML Khattar to hand over the investigation to CBI,” she said.