Missing Greater Noida college student killed by five friends in Amroha, three held after encounter

Mittal was the son of businessman Pradeep Mittal and a first year student of BBA [Bachelor of Business Administration] at a private university in Greater Noida. He went missing from his hostel on Monday evening, police said

Two days after he was reported missing from Greater Noida’s private university, the body of 20-year-old Yash Mittal was found buried six foot deep in a field in Amroha’s Gajraula town, about 144 kilometres from Greater Noida, senior police officers said on Thursday, adding that three of Mittal’s friends have been arrested for his murder following a brief gunfight.

Three of the five suspects who allegedly killed Yash Mittal were shot in the leg during a brief encounter with police and arrested on Wednesday evening (HT Photo)

Mittal was the son of businessman Pradeep Mittal and a first year student of BBA [Bachelor of Business Administration] at a private university in Greater Noida. He went missing from his hostel on Monday evening, police said.

It was Pradeep Mittal who reported his son missing the next day at Dadri police station.

“I spoke to my son last on Monday afternoon after which we tried speaking to him at night but could not reach him. On Tuesday, too, we were unable to contact him. By evening, we checked with the college hostel authorities who told us that he had left on Monday evening and never returned. That is when we suspected something amiss and reported the matter to police,” said Mittal, who runs an electronics shop in Gajraula.

Immediately, a missing person report was lodged at Dadri police station on Tuesday and teams were deployed to find the student, said SM Khan, deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida.

“The same day around 11pm, Yash’s father received a message from Yash’s phone that his son has been abducted and will be killed unless they paid a ransom of ₹6 crore,” said Khan.

However, investigators suspected that the ransom message was a diversion, he said.

“When CCTV footage from the college was reviewed, it was found that Yash left the university campus safely in a car while talking to someone on the phone,” Khan said.

Later, as part of the probe, the call data records were also checked, leading police to some suspects, including Yash’s friend Rachit Nagar (22), who told interrogators about a party in Gajraula to which Yash was also invited, the officer said.

“A police team reached Gajraula and nabbed Nagar, who revealed that he and Yash were friends with Shivam Singh (23), Sumit Pradhan (24), Sushant Verma (24) and Shubham Chaudhary (24) since November 2023 and often partied together,” said Khan.

He further said, “On February 26, they called Yash to a party in Gajraula. There, some argument broke out between Yash and the others after which he was killed allegedly by his friends and they buried the body in a field in Gajraula. We exhumed the body on Wednesday and sent it for an autopsy,” Khan said.

According to investigators, a dispute broke out between the six friends while drinking together. “Yash belongs to a well-off family, whereas the others were from low-income families. While drinking together, Yash made a comment about how only he pays for the parties while the others indulged in freeloading. They fought over this and ultimately strangled Yash to death and buried his body,” said an investigator, asking not to be named.

On Wednesday evening, the police got to know that three suspects were in Greater Noida’s Dadri. They were nabbed by the police after a combing operation.

“When chased, the suspects fired at the police party and three of them were shot in the leg in the retaliatory fire. They have been admitted to a hospital for treatment,” said Sujeet Upadhyay, station house officer, Dadri.

According to the police, Nagar graduated BA (Pass) in 2023 from a government college in Amroha and has since been preparing for the UP Police entrance examination. The second suspect Shivam Singh completed his class 12 in 2018 and works at his mother’s ayurveda clinic in Gajraula. Third suspect Sumit Verma works as a daily wager, while fourth suspect Sushant Verma is a final year student of BA at a college in Amroha.

The fifth suspect -- Shubham Chaudhary – is at large and efforts are underway to arrest him, Upadhyay said.

“The suspects told the police that they had killed Yash on February 26 but in order to mislead the police,they kept sending ransom messages to Yash’s father on February 27,” said the DCP.

The police said they have lodged two FIRs against the suspects -- first for murder, criminal conspiracy, and evidence destruction, and a second one of attempt to murder and under the Arms Act over the brief gunfight.

Yash’s body was handed over to the family after the autopsy on Thursday evening.