MNC executive’s murder: Police suspect he was killed during robbery bid

MNC executive found murdered in Ghaziabad, police investigating local gangs and personal enmity. Stabbed, robbed after getting off Metro, family suspects foul play.

The Ghaziabad police, investigating the robbery and murder of 42-year-old MNC executive, is looking into the involvement of locals gangs and also personal enmity or rivalry the deceased may have had with anyone, senior officers said on Monday.

Vinay Tyagi, the national business head of a multinational company, was found murdered in a drain near a school in Sector 2, Rajendra Nagar, about a kilometre from his house. (HT Photo)

Vinay Tyagi, the national business head of a multinational company, was found murdered in a drain near a school in Sector 2, Rajendra Nagar, about a kilometre from his house. He returned home on the Metro around 8.30pm on Friday and was later found in the drain with two severe stabbing wounds to his chest and abdomen, police said, adding that his mobile phone and laptop were missing.

The family later got registered an FIR of murder under sections 394 (causing hurt during robbery) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at the Shalimar Garden police station.

Investigators said Tyagi got transferred from Kolkatta to Delhi in April and ever since then, he was using Metro to commute to and from his home in Rajendra Nagar. They added that on the day of the incident, he got off at Raj Bagh Metro station, instead of Rajendra Nagar station. Police said Tyagi called up his family, asking them to come and pick him up, but later he called them again and said that he would return home by himself.

“Our teams are focussing on local gangs and are on the lookout for criminal elements who recently got out of jail. Tyagi’s family told us that around 11.21pm Friday, he sent the location details from his mobile to his wife, and, later this message was deleted. After getting off the Metro, he was seen going to a liquor shop and some payments to the shop were also made online,” said a police officer investigating the matter, asking not to be named.

Police said for about three hours after that, Tyagi was in the vicinity of Rajendra Nagar and later around 3am, his family, who had started searching for him, found him lying stabbed in a small drain.

He was rushed to a hospital but declared dead on arrival, police said. The family then informed the police around 4am on Saturday.

“He died of heavy blood loss from the two stab wounds. There were no signs of struggle or resistance in the autopsy report. The report did not indicate any presence of alcohol; it only stated that there was some liquid in the stomach,” the investigator quoted above said.

Nimish Patil, deputy commissioner of police, (trans-Hindon), said eight teams are investigating the case.

“We are focussed on nabbing the assailants. We suspect that it could be a case of robbery gone wrong perpetrated by some local gang. We are also probing if anyone was present with the victim at the time of the incident. The deletion of message is also being probed,” Patil said.

“The three hour period, from getting off the Metro to the incident, is crucial. We are probing what could have happened in these three hours. In the CCTV camera footage that we collected, we came across three persons on a bike. So far, their route does not match the route taken by the victim,” Patil said.