BHEL dy GM shot dead while walking home from metro station in Noida, cops suspect robbery

A deputy general manager with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was shot dead by unknown persons on Wednesday night at a deserted stretch in Noida Sector 105 while he was returning home from the metro station.

Police said prima facie they were treating the incident as a case of murder for robbery since his wrist watch, wallet and cell phone were reportedly missing.

The distance between the victim’s residence and the spot where his body was found is hardly one kilometre.

The victim, Amit Pandey (41), worked at the BHEL office in Lodhi Road in New Delhi and lived at his apartment at Sapphire Tower 2 in Sector 104.

Pandey, a native of Benaras, lived alone in his apartment. He was divorced a few years ago.

Police said Pandey was reportedly missing since 8pm on Wednesday and a missing complaint was filed by his brother-in-law Prabhat Dwivedi at Sector 39 police station on Thursday morning.

Pandey’s colleagues had launched a search for him on Thursday morning and around 4.40pm on Thursday, one of them found his body near a drain in Sector 105.

According to friends and colleagues, Pandey used to take the Metro to work and walked home from the Noida City Centre Metro station to his residence on foot, a distance of more than eight kilometres.

“He used to walk home from Noida City Centre for health reasons. When he went missing, we looked in all the hospitals of Noida and Delhi but found nothing. Then we started checking the route which Pandey used to take home from Noida City Centre and at 4.40pm found his body near a drain at a deserted stretch,” said Sanjay Singh, an employee at BHEL office, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

“His phone, wallet and wrist watch were missing. His identity card was left behind,” added Singh.

The victim’s brother-in-law Prabhat Dwivedi said that he last spoke with him around 8.30pm on Wednesday.

“We spoke for a few minutes and he told me that he would be reaching home in the next 15 minutes. He went missing after that and his phone was unreachable. I lodged a missing complaint in the morning,” said Dwivedi, a resident of Panchsheel Vihar, New Delhi.

According to police, one bullet injury was found on his body, which has been sent for postmortem.

“A bullet injury was found on the body between his neck and chest. An FIR has been lodged against unknown persons for murder,” said Avnish Dixit, station house officer, police station sector 39.

The family members of Pandey are expected to reach Noida by Friday.