The Delhi Police on Monday said they have solved a blind murder case that surfaced during the investigation of a missing person complaint, leading to the arrest of four people, including a woman, who killed a 48-year-old businessman, who ran a canteen at Dwarka’s Chhattisgarh Sadan, cut his body into pieces, put them in plastic bags and threw them into Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh’s Vrindavan last month.
Anroop Gupta, the businessman, was murdered on February 18, and the chopped parts of his body were dumped into the river the next night.
The prime accused, Honey alias Suraj, 29, befriended Gupta about a year ago. Honey included his 21-year-old live-in partner, Rakhi, and his three associates in the conspiracy to rob Gupta of his gold ornaments and extort money from him, said deputy police commissioner (Dwarka) Ankit Singh.
“Gupta loved wearing gold rings and bracelets. He lived separately from his family members at a high-rise society flat in Dwarka Sector 14, making him a perfect target for the accused,” said Singh.
On February 23, Gupta’s brother lodged a complaint, saying his sibling had been missing since February 18 and his car, bearing Haryana’s registration number, was also untraceable. The complaint said Gupta was fond of wearing gold rings and gold bracelets. The family denied any previous enmity or dispute. Singh said Gupta was living his life peacefully, and no circumstances hinted at his willful hiding.
A police team formed to find Gupta first approached the National Highways Authority of India and obtained details related to the car’s movements. They found that the car had travelled on the Yamuna Expressway in the intervening night of February 19 and 20. The scanning of CCTV footage revealed that the car had gone to Vrindavan and returned to Noida within a few hours.
The team scanned CCTV footage of Chhattisgarh Sadan and found that Gupta had left his car there and taken a Rapido bike. The Rapido rider told police that he had dropped Gupta outside a house in Matiala Extension’s B-block.
“CCTV footage of the vicinity of the drop point was checked. Gupta was seen entering the building but was never seen coming out. Four people were also seen entering the building after his entry. Further probe revealed that the people used a scooter and that Gupta’s car entered the building’s basement on February 19 and came out after some time, and finally went towards Vrindavan,” said Singh.
Police said the scooter was found registered in the name of Happy, who lived in the building in a rented flat. Happy was interrogated along with Rakhi and the other three men. They confessed to killing Gupta to rob him, and his refusal to give them money.
On February 18, Honey first lured Gupta to his flat in the name of attending a party. After Gupta reached there, Happy’s associates Bhupender, Balram, and Neeraj entered the house, where Rakhi was already present. They held Gupta hostage, tied him with a rope, and began assaulting him, asking him to give them his gold ornaments, police said.
When Gupta told them that he had left his rings and bracelet in his car parked at Chhattisgarh Sadan, they took the keys and brought the vehicle. After getting the gold articles, the accused started beating Gupta and demanded money from him. He refused to pay the money, after which they stabbed him to death. After the murder, Balram and Neeraj returned to their home in Haryana’s Jhajjar, said Singh.
“Happy procured one big knife [machete] and cut the body into pieces. The body pieces were then packed in three plastic bags. The accused washed blood stains and kept the blood-stained clothes in a polythene bag. The accused didn’t switch off Gupta’s mobile phone but kept it in the car to mislead the police. They sent a message from the victim’s phone to the staff of Chattisgarh Sadan canteen to close the canteen. Another message was sent to family members of the victim that he was going on a vacation to Goa and that he should not be disturbed,” said Singh.
The information about the disposal of the body parts was shared with the police stations of Mathura. Honey, Rakhi, Balram, 28, and Bhupender, 27, were arrested, and the body parts were recovered from the river on February 28 (Saturday). The fifth accused, Neeraj, is still absconding, Singh said.
