Four men detained for dumping ragpicker’s body in Ghaziabad after car accident in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar

Ghaziabad police detain four men accused of dumping a ragpicker’s body in Tronica City after allegedly hitting him with a car in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar.

Ghaziabad police have detained four men accused of dumping the body of a 38-year-old ragpicker in a vacant plot in Tronica City after allegedly hitting him with a car in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar early Tuesday, officers said on Wednesday.

The four men allegedly took the body to Ghaziabad on a scooter after the car hit the ragpicker in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar early Tuesday.

The accused allegedly transported the body to Ghaziabad on a scooter after returning the car to the car-washing centre where one of them worked. “The 25-year-old driver works at a car-washing centre in Delhi, and the Dzire car they were using was a customer’s vehicle,” assistant commissioner of police (ACP) for the Loni circle Ram Kishan said.

The four men, who are friends and aged between 23 and 28, were returning from a party when their Swift Dzire hit the ragpicker near Chauhan Patti Gate in Delhi at around 2.50am, police said.

“After the car hit and killed the ragpicker, the suspects dropped the car back at the car-washing centre, and two of them picked up a scooty. They placed the body between them on the scooty and drove to Ghaziabad, about a kilometre away. They spotted a vacant plot with a boundary wall in Om Vihar Colony in Tronica City. Furthermore, they dumped the body and fled,” ACP Kishan told HT.

After daybreak on Tuesday, locals spotted the body in the plot and informed the police, who began checking closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage in the area.

“In the CCTV footage, the police found the Scorpio-N SUV roaming around the plot in a suspicious manner around 4am on Tuesday. The police, with the help of its registration number, reached the four suspects. The SUV was also of a customer. Detailed inspection of CCTVs also revealed that two men, one driving and one riding a pillion, placed the body in between them and came to the plot to dump the body. The four suspects were traced and detained for questioning,” deputy commissioner of police (DCP) for the rural zone Surendra Nath Tiwari told HT.

Police have seized a Swift Dzire and Scorpio-N SUV involved in the crime.

“Taking cognizance, the police have registered an FIR at the Tronica City police station. We are also taking legal advice, as the incident of the accident happened in Delhi and the body was dumped in Ghaziabad. Therefore, further legal action will be initiated against the suspects,” the DCP added.

The police registered an FIR, seen by HT, under BNS sections 281 (rash driving), 106(1) (causing death by rash and negligent act and not amounting to murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) at Tronica City police station on late Tuesday night.