Shop owner slits employee’s throat for demanding salary in Gurugram

The deceased has been identified as Roshan Kumar Swami, who hailed from Sikar in Rajasthan.

The police on Friday booked a 25-year-old vegetable shop owner for allegedly slitting his employee’s throat for demanding his salary for three months, said police. He is yet to be arrested.

According to the police on Friday afternoon they received a call from the owner of the house that the tenant was not opening the gate, though the lights and fans were switched on in the rooftop room. (Reuters file photo)

The deceased has been identified as Roshan Kumar Swami, who hailed from Sikar in Rajasthan. His family members said he had been living in Sector 57 with his employer Tarun Phogat for the last three months and had not received a single penny despite repeated requests.

According to the police on Friday afternoon they received a call from the owner of the house that the tenant was not opening the gate, though the lights and fans were switched on in the rooftop room.

Pradeep Dangi, station house officer, Sector 56 police station said he sent a team to the spot and they broke open the door and found the body tied onto a chair and throat slit. “There were multiple injury marks on the chest, face and head. The body was partially decomposed and it appeared that he was attacked with a sharp weapon before the throat was slit,” he said.

The police scanned the room and recovered the mobile phone of the deceased. The employer was missing and his mobile phone was switched off.

“The deceased’s family members reached the city late Friday night and we handed over the body on Saturday after the autopsy,” Dangi said.

Manoj Kumar Swami, elder brother of the deceased, who works as a labourer, said his brother moved to Gurugram as the family was facing a financial crisis after their father’s death. “Our father died a few years ago. Our elder brother also died 10 months ago, due to which we were facing difficulties to make ends meets. I joined a contractor and am working in Sikar. Roshan came to Gurugram and started working as a salesman at a vegetable shop in Sector 57 for ₹15,000 a month,” he said.

Roshan had recently completed his class 12 and got married last year. His wife lived with his family in Sikar.

Manoj said Phogat bought the shop from the previous owner three months ago. “The previous owner had not paid him three months’ salary and when he sold the shop, he told Phogat to pay him as per their contract. It had been three months that my brother was demanding money to send home and he kept delaying. We suspect he murdered him after a tiff on Thursday night,” he said.

Phogat confessed to his own father that he murdered Roshan. His father then came to the police station from Rohtak on Saturday and met Roshan’s family.

Gurugram Civil Hospital forensic expert Dr Deepak Mathur, who conducted the autopsy, said the body was partially decomposed. “The man died due to a slit throat. There were multiple injuries across the body and 12 injuries on the chest. It appeared that man used an ice pick,” he said.

The police have charged Phogat under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code.