Gurgaon cops solve murder of transport agent, two arrested

The victim, Ashish Punia, was on his way to office when three men in a Tata Ace mini truck intercepted his scooter and fired five bullets at him. Punia was taken to a nearby private hospital but declared dead on arrival.

The crime unit of Gurgaon police arrested two people in connection with the murder of a 26-year-old man in Sector 9 extension on August 26.

The police said they arrested the duo on Tuesday based on a tip-off and also recovered the Tata Ace from them. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The victim, Ashish Punia, was on his way to office when three men in a Tata Ace mini truck intercepted his scooter and fired five bullets at him. Punia was taken to a nearby private hospital but declared dead on arrival.

The police said they arrested the duo on Tuesday based on a tip-off and also recovered the Tata Ace from them.

The police identified the accused as Lal Babu, a resident of Ashok Vihar and Naveen, a resident of Rewari. The third suspect, Sanjay Singh, is still at large and police are conducting raids to arrest him.

According to the police, the accused during questioning confessed that they murdered Punia over a personal rivalry between Sanjay Singh and Punia, who both used to run transport business. It was also revealed that they had invested in a chit fund and faced problems over sharing of money.

The victim was shot at almost five to six times on his way to Sector 9 on the day of the incident. Following the incident, the police examined CCTV footage and a team led by inspector Sajjan Singh of the crime branch, Palam Vihar, was assigned to work the case as it was a blind murder, said Sumit Kuhar, deputy commissioner of police (crime).

“The animosity arose a few months ago over financial issues between the two, pertaining to an amount of Rs5 lakh. An investigation is underway for arresting Sanjay,” Kuhar said.

The police said that Sanjay used the services of the accused in committing the crime.