Taxi driver found murdered at Pinjore village

Parvinder Singh Bittu, a 40-year-old taxi driver who reportedly picked up five passengers from the Kalka railway station for Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, was found murdered at Khedawali village in Pinjore on Wednesday in mysterious circumstances. His family learnt of the death when they visited a health centre in Kalka and were shown an unclaimed body, police said.

Parvinder Singh Bittu, a 40-year-old taxi driver who reportedly picked up five passengers from the Kalka railway station for Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, was found murdered at Khedawali village in Pinjore on Wednesday in mysterious circumstances.

His family learnt of the death when they visited a health centre in Kalka and were shown an unclaimed body, police said.

In a police complaint, the brother of the deceased, Nirmal Singh, said of all the four brothers who were taxi drivers, Bittu was usually stationed at Kalka railway station to pick up passengers.

At around 10:30pm on Tuesday, the victim called his wife Jaspreet Kaur to say he was headed for Baddi and would come home after dropping five passengers he had picked up from Kalka railway station.

“He had asked his wife to call back after 20 minutes, but when she did so, his mobile was switched off,” Nirmal Singh said. When he did not come back home till 12.30 am, Nirmal Singh and Jaspreet Kaur drove around looking for him. Unable to trace Bittu, the two then visited the Kalka community health centre (CHC) where they were shown an unclaimed body in the mortuary, said Pinjore station house officer (SHO) inspector Yashdeep Singh.

A case was registered under sections 302 (murder), 34 (act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code at the Pinjore police station.