In a bizarre display which shows lack of coordination between various police agencies in the national capital region, the Gurgaon police cremated the body of a man, who was abducted from his south Delhi residence and later shot dead, allegedly without confirming his identity.
The incident occurred on May 26 when the deceased, identified as Raghubir, was at his home in Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. “The accused, identified as Vijay Pahelwan, reached his house at around 8 pm and told Raghubir that he had some urgent work with him. Vijay then took him away in his white car to an undisclosed location,” a police official said.
“When Raghubir didn’t return till 10 in the night, his family members got suspicious and approached the Vasant Kunj (north) police station and a case was registered. In the meantime, the Gurgaon police found Raghubir’s body near Sushant Lok area at around 11 on May 26. The body bore two bullet injuries in the abdomen. The Gurgaon police registered a murder FIR and cremated his body after three days when no one came to claim it,” the official said.
The Gurgaon police cracked the case when Vijay Pahelwan was arrested in Rohtak in connection with a criminal case. During his interrogation, Vijay told the cops that he was involved in the killing of Raghubir. Subsequently, the Gurgaon police informed its counterparts in Delhi and on June 1, the Delhi police took Ragubir’s sons to identify the man whose body was already cremated.
Victim’s son, Baljeet, identified him through a photograph of his body that was taken by the Gurgaon police.
“The Gurgaon police told us that nothing was recovered from our father that could have helped in his identification. The police didn’t act in time,” said Baljeet.
“We have taken the accused intransit remand and we are investigating the case. The Gurgaon police didn’t approach us although we were on a lookout for the deceased and circulated a message to the neighbouring states about the missing person,” said a senior Delhi police officer.