Switched on phone leads cops to murder on NH-9 by auto driver

A man who was missing for three months was robbed and killed by the auto driver, and was cremated as an unidentified body by the police

When 53-year-old Surendra Nagar, a resident of Bambawar in Greater Noida, boarded an auto on the night of July 30 from Noida, that was the last anyone heard from him. After he went missing, his family on August 1 filed a missing person complaint at Badalpur police station.

On the night of July 30, the Ghaziabad police received information about an unidentified body on NH-9 near Vijay Nagar and they recovered it. After it remained unidentified for over 72 hours, police cremated it. (Representational image)

However, Nagar’s fate remained a mystery even for the police until last week, when his phone got switched on. Police traced the person in possession of the phone, and through him zeroed in on a 20-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, who was arrested on Wednesday, said Ghaziabad police.

“Nagar was found dead near NH-9. The entire sequence of events unfolded when the stolen mobile phone of the victim got active in Bihar a week ago. The suspect had sold it to a person who further sold it to another person. When we traced and established the chain, and zeroed in on the auto driver, a resident of Vijay Nagar. He has been arrested,” said Nimish Patil, assistant commissioner of police (city 1).

The Ghaziabad police identified the suspect as Shiva Kumar, 20, of Khurja. During questioning, Kumar told police that Nagar had boarded his auto on July 30 and after stealing the phone from him, he pushed Nagar out of his auto and fled.

On the night of July 30, the Ghaziabad police received information about an unidentified body on NH-9 near Vijay Nagar and they recovered it. After it remained unidentified for over 72 hours, police cremated it.

On October 24, Nagar’s family members identified the body from photos shown to them by the Vijay Nagar police in Ghaziabad.

“After my father went missing, we visited several police stations, including Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad. But, there was no information about him. Finally the Badalpur police station called us on October 24 after my father’s mobile got active. They asked us to reached Vijay Nagar police station where the officials showed us pictures of the body found on NH-9 on July 30. We identified him from the photos but by then he had already been cremated. We never got to perform his last rites,” said Nagar’s son, Vipin Kumar who is with UP Police in Meerut.

He said he had to approach senior police officers of the Ghaziabad commissionerate before an FIR was finally lodged at Vijay Nagar police station. The FIR was registered on October 28 under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 392 (robbery) against unidentified persons at Vijay Nagar police station.

“The suspect driver has been sent to jail under IPC 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) which is lenient section,” Vipin Kumar said.

Deputy commissioner of police (city) Nipun Agarwal said the police have not ruled out levying IPC 302 in the case.

“We will gather more facts in the case and will try to levy IPC 302 in order to make a strong case against the suspect. Further, there has been dereliction of duty on the part of the sub-inspector handling the case. He did not register the missing person complaint with the district crime records bureau, which would have helped in timesly identification,” DCP said.

“It is possible that the family could have got a chance to perform his last rites. I have sought an explanation and also recommended that the sub-inspector be removed from active duty and send to police lines,” the DCP said.