38-year-old factory owner found murdered in Ghaziabad

A day after the car of a 38-year-old factory owner was found abandoned near the Haj House, his body was recovered on a road 7 km away in Sahibabad site-4 industrial

A day after the car of a 38-year-old factory owner was found abandoned near the Haj House, his body was recovered on a road 7 km away in Sahibabad site-4 industrial area on Tuesday. Based on an autopsy, police said that the man was strangulated.

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Police said they have got vital clues in the case.

Police said they recovered the body of Ajay Panchal, resident of sector-2 in Rajendra Nagar, around 4.45am on Tuesday. A preliminary investigation established that Panchal had left his cable manufacturing factory in Rajendar Nagar industrial area, 7 km from factory, at around 1pm on Monday for lunch at home, but never reached there.

After he could not be contacted, the family launched a search and then approached the police on Monday night.

“The autopsy on Tuesday indicated that he was strangled. We had registered a case of abduction after the family gave us a missing person complaint on Monday. We will now add the murder charge. Prima facie, it does not seem to have been a case of robbery,” said Keshav Kumar, assistant superintendent of police (Sahibabad).

The family of the victim man was reluctant to speak to the media. “I have spoken to the family and they do not know why Ajay was killed. He had no enmity with anyone. There is nothing missing from his car and the family did not get any ransom call either,” said Subhash Panchal, a friend of the victim.

The victim was father to two sons aged 10 and five years old and had been living in Rajendra Nagar for past 40-45 years, he added.“His mobile was missing and police are trying to trace it as part of investigation.”

Late Tuesday night, the Ghaziabad police said they were looking into the role of a couple who were known to the victim. “It has come to light in investigation that the victim had willingly gone to their house. The police have scanned number of CCTVs and got vital clues,” the Ghaziabad police said in the statement.