Search on for bizman’s body in Jhansi, killers promised Rs 25 lakh for murder
New Delhi:
As police teams continued their search for south Delhi businessman Anil Sharma’s body at a canal near Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh till late Thursday night, his alleged killers told police they had been promised a sum of Rs 25 lakh for the murder. Sharma was abducted and killed over a property dispute of Rs 3 crore 19 days ago.
Officers investigating the murder said the killers drove to Jhansi with Sharma’s body in a Scorpio with a police sticker and took detours to avoid the highway toll plazas.
On Wednesday, police arrested five men for the murder – Rishi Rajpal Singh Chauhan, 64, a registered medical practitioner, his son Hitesh Chauhan, 29, a business management graduate also studying LLB, Rishi’s friend Amet Vikram Chhabra, 32, who runs a power backup shop in Sadar Bazaar, Gurugram, Chhabra’s cousin Priyank Khanna, 34, Amet’s cousin and Sahil alias Bunty, 25, who worked at Amet’s shop.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Joy Tirkey said their teams started searching for Sharma’s body early Thursday. The operation continued till late Thursday night.
Tirkey said Sharma and Rishi knew each other for a long time. Rishi used to run his clinic from his home in Gurugram and ran a paying guest accommodation for women there. The General Power of Attorney of the land on which Rishi’s house is built was in the name of Sharma.
“In 2009, Sharma and Rishi got into a dispute over the land worth over Rs 3 crore. The matter went to court and in September this year, Sharma won the land title from the Supreme Court. The date for execution of the land title in a Gurugram court had been fixed as November 15. Rishi feared his family will have to vacate the premises,” he said.
The officer said in October, Rishi sought his friend Harsh Chhabra’s help to eliminate Sharma. Harsh asked for Rs 25 lakh in return.
As Rishi agreed to pay, Harsh roped in his son Amet, who included his cousin Priyank in the plan. Amet roped in his employee Sahil.
The DCP said Rishi and Hitesh admitted to have paid Rs 1 lakh as advance to Amet. “On October 31, Hitesh took Amet, Sahil and Priyank to the Debt Recovery Tribunal near Connaught Place where Arun Sharma had to visit. They followed Sharma to his Kailash Colony home for a recce and planned his abduction. On November 14, Amet got fake number plates made for his Mahindra Scorpio car and the next morning, Amet, Sahil and Priyank reached Kailash Colony around 5 am. Around 9 am, soon as Sharma left his house to take a metro train from the Kailash Colony Metro Station, Sahil and Priyank dragged him inside the rear seat of the Scorpio,” the DCP said.
While Amet drove, Sahil and Priyank sat on either side of Sharma and strangulated him with a shawl. They dumped Sharma’s phone after taking out the SIM card.
“Around 9.20 am, Amet told Hitesh that the job had been done. Amet sent a picture of the deceased to Hitesh on WhatsApp for confirmation but Hitesh called them to Jhadsa Chowk in Gurugram as he wanted to see the body. After showing the body to Hitesh, Amet replaced the fake registration number plate with the real one left for Jhansi. On their way, they threw Sharma’s identification documents and bank cards near Palwal but kept the land-related documents which Sharma was carrying,” he said.
Tirkey said, as the four reached Jhansi Road, they threw Sharma’s body in a canal and returned to Gurugram the next morning on November 15. Amet handed over Sharma’s file containing the land documents to Hitesh and got his car washed and serviced in Gurugram the next day, the police officer said.
