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2 phones, including iPhone, delivered...but executive gets death instead of payment
The accused ordered two phones worth ₹150,000. After delivering the products, when the executive asked him to pay up, he and his aide called the victim inside their rented shop. They snatched both the phones and allegedly killed him, stuffed the body into a bag and dumped it in Indira Canal: Police
LUCKNOW A 32-year-old delivery executive was allegedly strangled by two men when he asked for the payment of two smartphones, including an iPhone, after delivering the products in the Chinhat area of Lucknow on September 23 night, police officers aware of the matter said on Monday.
The victim was identified as Bharat Kumar Verma. One person was arrested and the other was absconding, they added.
The prime accused, Gajendra Dubey, 22, ordered two phones worth ₹150,000. After delivering the products, when Verma asked him to pay up, Gajendra and his aide Akash Sharma, 21, called the executive inside their rented shop. They snatched both the phones and allegedly killed him, stuffed the body into a bag and dumped it in the Indira Canal at Maati in Chinhat, said DCP (East) Shashank Singh, adding that SDRF and NDRF teams were searching for the body.
“Akash was first detained and then arrested, and has confessed to the crime. Gajendra is at large,” he added.
“An FIR has been registered at the Chinhat police station under various sections of BNS, including 102 (1) (murder), 238 (destroying evidence) and 140 (kidnapping),” said Singh.
After Verma went missing, his family filed a missing complaint at Chinhat police station on September 25. Thereafter, the police, with the help of surveillance, got some important clues after which one of the men was taken into custody, said police.
Verma’s family was shocked to learn that his body had been dumped into the canal.
“My son was working with this e-commerce company for three years, where Gajendra also worked with my son earlier. He took advantage of this, and after booking the phone, he along with his partner, executed the crime,” said Gajendra’s father, Ram Milan.
SHO (Chinhat) AK Chaturvedi hinted towards a planned murder and involvement of more than two persons, saying that in the preliminary investigation it came to light that the order was placed from the account of one Himanshu Kannaujiya at Dewa road in Chinhat, who took Bharat on a conference call with Gajendra to deliver the products at the location. “However, things will be clear when the other accused is also nabbed,” he added.
On September 23, Bharat left for delivery at 10am as usual as he had about 49 consignments to deliver. “He returned to the warehouse around 12noon and left the place again at 12.30 pm. The mobile phones were to be delivered to one person on Deva Road (Chinhat). When Bharat did not return till late at night, we kept calling him, but when there was no response, we complained to the police,” said Prem Kumar, deceased’s brother.
