Gurugram: 21-year-old held for killing cab driver in Delhi

Five more suspects including Kartik, who had booked the cab, were yet to be arrested, said police, adding that they killed Suraj to rob him of his cab.

A 25-year-old cab driver was strangled to death on Thursday inside his cab by suspects who booked a ride from Sector 37C to Chandu Budhera, said police on Friday, adding that one of the suspects was caught from Delhi.

The deceased.

Police identified the deceased as Suraj Singh of Raipura in Morena, Madhya Pradesh. He lived with his brother-in-law Ravi Singh, 32, in Gandhi Nagar, Sector 11. Police said Suraj drove Ravi’s Swift Dzire for a travel firm to ferry airline pilots and also worked as a cab operator.

Investigators identified the arrested suspect as Shanu, 21, from Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh who worked as a cab driver in Delhi. Five more suspects including Kartik, who had booked the cab, were yet to be arrested, said police, adding that they killed Suraj to rob him of his cab.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said Suraj had left home at 2.30pm on Tuesday for duty and didn’t return home.

“On Wednesday afternoon, travel firm officials called Ravi to alert that Suraj’s phone was off and he was absent. The firm shared the cab’s GPS location which showed it was in Holi chowk, Delhi,” he said.

Ravi, while speaking to HT, said that they travelled to Delhi and found the cab in an abandoned condition with Suraj traceless.

“Suraj received a booking on his app at around 2.27am on Wednesday to reach Basai chowk where Shanu got on the front seat while three others sat in the rear,” said Turan, adding two more suspects were also present at the spot in a separate car.

Investigators said that when the cab reached near Sultanpur, Shanu got down and the three other accused sitting behind strangled Suraj to death using a muffler. They dumped the body roadside and fled towards Bijwasan in Delhi via the Dwarka Expressway.

“Ravi’s brother alerted Delhi police by reaching Kapashera police station. Police scanned CCTV camera footage to find that several suspects had fled in a car after abandoning the cab. They also managed to nab Shanu and and recover the cab with number plates folded,” he said.

The suspects had taken away the cash and phone from the deceased along with the cab, said police.

Investigators said Shanu told Delhi police that he and five of his associates had murdered Suraj between 3-3.30am and had dumped his body near Sultanpur National Park in Farrukhnagar .

Delhi police contacted Gurugram counterparts and alerted them about the murder and handed over the arrested suspect at Sector 9A police station, leading to his formal arrest.