Missing senior pvt bank executive found dead in Delhi canal, SIT to probe case

Gurugram Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the death of a 38-year-old vice president of a private bank, whose body was found in

Gurugram Police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the death of a 38-year-old vice president of a private bank, whose body was found in a canal in Delhi, days after he had gone missing while taking a stroll outside his Sector 46 house on August 5 .

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The family of the victim has alleged that he was kidnapped and murdered and claimed negligence on part of the city police for not conducting a proper investigation initially, when the family first reported the man missing. A three-member SIT, under the supervision of the assistant commissioner of police (crime), Preet Pal was formed on Monday to look into the case.

According to the police, on August 5 around 7.45pm, the victim, Dheeraj Ahlawat, who worked in the corporate banking department of a private bank, was last seen walking on a service lane near his house in Sector 46.

After he failed to return later that evening, his family launched a search and looked around for him and enquired with friends and relatives.

The following day, his family filed a missing person’s complaint at Sector 50 police station. An FIR under section 346 of Indian Penal Code was lodged based on the complaint.

The victim’s brother, Jasvir Singh, alleged that the family told the police that Dheeraj could have been kidnapped as he dealt in huge loan amounts as part of his job. But the police dismissed their concerns, stating that he may have gone somewhere of his own volition.

“He returned home on August 5 evening and changed into a T-shirt and went for a stroll in his slippers around 7.45pm. Before leaving, he grabbed the mask from his car and kept the car keys in his pocket. If he wanted to go somewhere far, he would have taken the car. He had no money on him. Both his phones were later found switched off. He did not have any personal enmity with anyone,” said Jasvir.

Singh said that they had contacted a relative in Delhi police soon after, who told them that a body matching Dheeraj’s description had been fished out of a canal near Rohini on the night of August 7.

“We received information on August 12 regarding a body and I went to the hospital in Delhi, where the body had been kept, to check. I identified the body, which only had an underwear on, through the rakhi, which my sister had tied on his left hand, and by his build. According to the police, Dheeraj’s body was found completely naked except the underwear when it was found. We suspect that he was kidnapped and then murdered. He was a decent swimmer,” said Jasvir.

After his body was found in Delhi, the victim’s family informed the police in Sector 50 and a kidnapping charge was added to the FIR. A post-mortem was conducted on August 12 and police said that viscera samples have been sent to the forensics laboratory for examination.

Jasvir said that they met the commissioner of police on Monday demanding a thorough probe into the death. “My brother’s work involved disbursement of corporate loans worth several hundred crores. It is possible that he was targeted due to some money related dispute,” said Singh.

Preet Pal, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), crime, said, “A three-member SIT has been formed to investigate the case. We had registered an FIR immediately after the family had reported that the person had gone missing. The body was later found by Delhi Police and the charge of kidnapping was added as per the circumstances and facts of the case.”