Body of missing Loni man found with injuries, murder probe on

The body of a 45-year-old man, identified to be a hardware trader, with multiple injuries was recovered from a forested patch in Mandola village in the Loni district, said Ghaziabad police, adding that, while a case has yet to be filed, they are investigating it as a case of murder

The body of a 45-year-old man, identified to be a hardware trader, with multiple injuries was recovered from a forested patch in Mandola village in the Loni district, said Ghaziabad police, adding that, while a case has yet to be filed, they are investigating it as a case of murder.

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Police identified the man as Vinod Gupta, a resident of Rajdhani Enclave, around 3km from where the body was found. According to a preliminary investigation, Gupta left his house around 8pm on Sunday when he received a call. By 11pm, his phone had been switched off. By 11.30pm, his family had informed police.

“Police teams started a search for the and scanned several CCTVs in his locality and also outside. The scanning of CCTVs continued till early Monday morning when an information was received about the discovery of his body,” said deputy commissioner of police (rural) Surendra Nath Tiwari.

Early Monday, officials received information that a cattle grazer had found a body.

“The body had about 4-5 injuries, and these seemed to be inflicted by some weapon like a knife. The body was seized and sent for autopsy. We are treating it as a case of murder,” said assistant commissioner of police (Loni) Ram Kishan.

His family has already approached the police with a complaint and a first information report will be registered “soon”, said the ACP.

Three people have been picked up for questioning in the case, said the DCP.

Teams have also been deployed to investigate the case and police are using CCTV footage and electronic surveillance to establish what happened.

The victim ran a hardware shop near his residence and is survived by his wife and two children.