Three held for murdering 35-yr-old who blackmailed women in Ghaziabad
The Ghaziabad police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old man and two women, aged 19 and 24, for allegedly murdering a 35-year-old man and dumping the body in Upper Ganga Canal in Murad Nagar. The police said they are investigating the victim’s alleged habit of blackmailing women with their intimate and personal videos, which could have been the motive for the murder.
The Ghaziabad police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old man and two women, aged 19 and 24, for allegedly murdering a 35-year-old man and dumping the body in Upper Ganga Canal in Murad Nagar.
The police said they are investigating the victim’s alleged habit of blackmailing women with their intimate and personal videos, which could have been the motive for the murder.
The police on Sunday arrested Chetanraj Tyagi, an MBA graduate, and his two accomplices, a 24-year-old woman, his girlfriend, and a 19-year-old PGDBM student. Another woman, aged around 25, who was also allegedly involved in the murder, is absconding.
The victim, of Raispur, was allegedly involved in betting. “On the day of the incident on February 21, Tyagi called the two women to his office at Raj Nagar and planned the murder.In the evening, the accused invited the man and the women to his Sanjay Nagar residence for a party. The student was called on the pretext of undertaking a sting operation of the victim, which was to be submitted to investigating agencies, as per the plan shared with her,” Manish Mishra, circle officer (city), said.
The 24-year-old woman claimed to be from a local TV channel. “In the night, when the victim was asleep after consuming several drinks, he was strangulated by the accused. Later, they drove in the victim’s Santro and dumped his body, mobile phone and other belongings into the canal. The car was later left at an isolated location. During the party, one more woman had arrived at the location. However, she is absconding and a hunt is on to nab her,” Mishra said.
The victim’s body was found near Masuri on February 22. The police then traced the victims through electronic surveillance records. Following the arrest, the 19-year-old woman said that she was lured by them on a promise of payment for filming the sting operation.
“During the incident, we both were sitting inside a room. The third woman arrived and went to the room of the victim at night and the sting operation could not be completed. After he fell asleep, he was strangulated,” she said.
Tyagi had taken a loan of ₹70,000 from the victim and said that he had returned ₹50,000. The police said the delay in repayment of the loan could also be one of the reasons behind the murder.
Tyagi, however, denied that the pending loan was the reason for the murder. He claimed that the victim habitually blackmailed women after getting into physical relationships and filming their acts.
“We are still investigating if any videos were made and also the motive behind the murder. The three accused persons have not revealed much but we will take them in police custody on remand and question them further. We are also trying to trace the missing woman,” Mishra said.