Two business partners arrested for murdering man over ₹16 lakh loan

The deceased was identified as Vinod Sharma, a resident of Bhagat Colony in Faridabad. He worked as a private contractor supplying manpower and also as manager at a tyre manufacturing company.

Faridabad police on Thursday arrested two private contractors on charges of killing their 34-year-old business partner after he allegedly asked then to return ₹16 lakh that he had loaned them.

Police said that within five hours, they managed to crack the case and arrested Babban and Kundan, Sharma’s business partners. (Representative image)

The deceased was identified as Vinod Sharma, a resident of Bhagat Colony in Faridabad. He worked as a private contractor supplying manpower and also as manager at a tyre manufacturing company.

Sharma’s family members had lodged a man missing compliant on May 5 after he failed to return home and the suspects allegedly misled the police in their investigations and later joined a protest against the police for not finding the missing man.

Narender Kadian, deputy commissioner of police (crime), Faridabad, said they started investigations soon after receiving a complaint from Sharma’s wife. “He left home after dinner on his motorbike and was continuously on call. He did not even inform family members where he was going and was wearing bathroom slippers,” he said.

Kadian said when he did not return home even the next day, Sharma’s family started looking for him; his mobile phone came as switched off. “We formed teams and started scanning CCTV footage from near his home. Meanwhile, the family members, relatives and neighbours started protesting against the police for not acting on their man missing complaint. We saw that his main partner was trying to accuse the police of lax investigations and was very actively instigating these protests,” he said.

Reena Devi, Sharma’s wife, said, “On Thursday, police asked us to identify a body that they had found in a sack in an industrial area. We were shocked as it turned out to be my husband’s. We could not believe that someone could be so brutal.”

Police said that within five hours, they managed to crack the case and arrested Babban and Kundan, Sharma’s business partners. They allegedly slit his throat after assaulting him. “It was a premeditated murder and they had involved another person, identified as Neeraj, in the crime. He is on the run. We had noticed Babban’s suspicious behaviour and were keeping a close watch on him. His police statements were contradictory when we questioned him. After several rounds, he broke down and admitted to the crime. He also named his partner and a third person in the murder,” said Kadian.

Sube Singh, Faridabad police spokesperson, said during questioning the suspects revealed that they had taken a loan of ₹16 lakh from Sharma and did not want to return it. The suspects were expecting more payments of nearly ₹1 crore and they wanted to divide the money between the three of them, excluding Sharma. “They slit his throat, packed his body in a sack and threw it in the HSIDC area in Sector 67, Chandawali village. Police received call on Thursday after someone spotted the body,” he said.

.