Gzb-based contractor was murdered for failing to pay up a bet : Police

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police Thursday arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly murdering a 48-year-old government contractor who went missing on January 4 — his

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police Thursday arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly murdering a 48-year-old government contractor who went missing on January 4 — his body was recovered from a canal near Simbhaoli in Hapur district a day later.

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The police said the suspect, Gajendra Kumar, had allegedly murdered the victim, Pradeep Sharma, as he was not paying up winnings of ₹1.2 lakh to Kumar even after repeated requests.

Police said Kumar, a resident of Hapur, is a dealer of ayurvedic medicines and has a criminal background. The suspect was named in murder case in 2002 and an abduction case of a minor in Bulandshahr.

According to police, Kumar came in touch with contractor Sharma, a resident of Balaji Enclave in Ghaziabad, about three or four months ago and they became friends.

“Sharma would buy ayurvedic medicines from Kumar and also asked Kumar to invest money in a betting racket. In one such instance, Kumar was promised about ₹1.12 lakh on a bet of ₹1,200. Kumar won the bet and he asked Sharma for money. About ₹12,000 was also due on account of purchase of medicines. Sharma refused to pay up and the suspect planned to kill him,” Atish Kumar singh, circle officer (city 2), said.

The police said after the two men got involved in betting they used to frequent tantriks (godmen) in an attempt to figure “lucky number” on which to place their bets.

Gajendra allegedly called Sharma to Hapur on the afternoon of January 4 and offered him ‘laddus’ laced with sleeping pills. “Sharma went into a semi-conscious state. Kumar took him to one Jagdish Baba’s place where he slept for several hours. Later, the Baba asked both of them to leave. Kumar took Sharma to the canal around 9.30pm the same day and strangled him. He threw the body into the canal and rode back on Sharma’s bike. He also damaged Sharma’s phone after taking out the SIM card,” Singh said.

The cops used electronic surveillance to trace Kumar who was using Sharma’s SIM on a newly purchased phone. He also answered several calls made by Sharma’s family and tried to divert their attention.

“The family did not know that Kumar was using the phone. Using electronic surveillance, we found that Sharma and Kumar had gone to the Baba’s place. The Baba corroborated this. On being questioned, Kumar broke down and narrated the sequence of events,” Singh said.

The suspect was booked for abduction and murder along with destruction of evidence in the murder case.