Man who beat security guard to death arrested after police encounter in G Noida

The Noida police have arrested the prime suspect in the beating death of a 24-year-old man following a brief gunfight; another accomplice is still at large.

A day after a 24-year-old man was beaten to death in Greater Noida, the Noida police nabbed the prime suspect in the case following a brief gunfight, officers aware of the case said on Saturday.

The suspect who fired on the police team was injured during retaliatory firing from the police, and has been arrested and admitted to a hospital. (Representational image)

Police identified the victim as Dheeraj Kumar, and the arrested accused as Yogendra (goes by one name) — both residents of Roja Yakubpur village in Greater Noida (West).

Giving details of the case, police said two men — Yogendra and an accomplice named Somit — beat up Dheeraj on Thursday morning, leading to the latter’s death. Yogendra has claimed that he assaulted Dheeraj because he made a lewd remark about his (the accused’s) sister, but Dheeraj’s family maintains that Dheeraj was in a relationship with the woman, which is why he was killed.

Yogendra was arrested on Friday night near Roja Yakubpur village, an officer aware of the case said.

“Local police received a tip-off about the location of the two suspects, following which a trap was laid. Police teams were carrying out checks near the village at around 10pm, when they spotted the suspects on a motorcycle. They were asked to stop but they sped away. Our teams chased them and their bike accidently slipped. One of them fired upon the police while the other managed to flee,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Central Noida Suniti (goes by one name).

“The suspect who fired on the police team was injured during retaliatory firing from the police, and has been arrested and admitted to a hospital. He was identified as Yogendra, a resident of Roja Yakubpur village,” she said, adding that police recovered an illegal country-made gun and live cartridges from the suspect.

Yogendra has been arrested under section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Suniti said he is a history sheeter and has five cases of loot and dacoity registered against him across police stations in Greater Noida.

“We have deployed teams to arrest Somit, the absconding accomplice,” the DCP said.