In a bizarre incident, it has been found that a BJP leader plotted his own murder so that he could escape the debt burden of `43 lakhs and his family could avail the insurance money to lead a comfortable life after him.
The body of Harish Gupta, a trader and a local BJP leader was found on the roadside near Dallapur village in Lakhimpur district on September 20.
The postmortem report confirmed that he had been strangulated to death.
From the three mobile phones found on the body, the police started tracing the call details and on grounds of suspicion, one Shatrohan was arrested.
During interrogation, Shatrohan revealed the sequence of events that left the ops shocked.
According to Shatrohan, Harish Gupta and he had been colleagues in politics for the past 15 years.
“He came to me on September 19 and told me about his financial problems. He said that he owed `43 lakhs to some people and was not in a position to repay the debt. He said that if he died, hi family would get `77 lakhs from his insurance claims. He sought me help and though I was reluctant, I finally agreed,” he told the police.
The same day, Harish, Shatrohan and one Ram Asrey went to a secluded spot near Dallapur village and Harish gave them `5,000 each.
“He then took some sleeping pills and after a while he fell unconscious and as per his direction, Ram Asrey strangulated him while I held his feet,” Shatrohan told the police.
Shatrohan has been arrested while a hunt is on for the second accused Ram Asrey.
Meanwhile, family and friends of the deceased are shocked at the revelations made by Shatrohan.