Missing Noida businessman cremated unidentified; four arrested for murder

As his family members did not approach the police for four days, the Greater Noida police had no information available to cross-check with other police stations, said senior officers

A 40-year-old businessman who went missing from Noida on September 16 was found dead in a Greater Noida drain the next morning and cremated as an unidentified person three days later, before his family reported him missing, police said on Wednesday.

Four people have been arrested for allegedly killing him and dumping his body in a drain. (Representational image)

Four people have been arrested for allegedly killing him and dumping his body.

Police identified the deceased as Prashant Sharma, a resident of Garhi Chaukhandi near Sector 68. His body was recovered from a drain in Techzone 4 on September 17 and cremated on September 20 after police were unable to establish his identity.

Sharma’s family approached Phase 3 police station on September 21 to lodge a missing persons complaint.

“As his family did not approach the police for four days, the Greater Noida police were unable to cross-check with other police stations,” said Diksha Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Central Noida.

Police said the cremation was carried out as per procedure after the body remained unidentified for 72 hours.

The investigation led police to four suspects, aged between 18 and 20, who were arrested on Tuesday after investigators examined CCTV footage.

Police said Sharma was at a kiosk near his house on the night of September 16 when he got into an argument with two of the suspects. All three were allegedly in an inebriated condition. The argument later subsided, after which the suspects asked Sharma to show them his office in Greater Noida.

“Sharma took them in his car to Greater Noida. On the way, two more people, the accused’s acquaintances, also joined,” said Shubhash Chandra, station house officer, Phase 3.

Police said another argument broke out during the journey.

“The suspects strangled him using a belt and dumped his body in a drain in Greater Noida,” Chandra said.

They then allegedly drove Sharma’s car towards the Aligarh-Hathras border and abandoned it, police said.

After the family lodged the complaint on September 21, police matched Sharma with the unidentified body recovered in the Bisrakh police station area and reconstructed his movements. A case of murder and causing disappearance of evidence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at Phase 3 police station.