Senior BHEL exec found murdered near Noida e-way

NOIDA: A senior officer with BHEL was found dead near a drain in a woody stretch off the Noida Expressway on Thursday afternoon, almost 24 hours after he was last seen at the public sector company’s office on Delhi’s Lodhi Road.
Police suspect murder as Amit Pandey’s body had a gunshot wound near his larynx. The 41-year-old, police said, had left his office around 6.45pm on Wednesday but never made it to his flat at Amrapali Sapphire II in Sector 104 (Noida). The last anyone spoke to him was at 8.27pm on Wednesday when he had a phone conversation with his sister Shweta and told her he would reach home in 15 minutes.

He went incommunicado after that. His family tried calling him but it was switched off. Pandey’s brother-in-law Prabhat Dwivedi lodged a missing person’s complaint at Sector 39 police station on Thursday. Police began a search after that, based on his last phone location at Okhla Bird Sanctuary Metro station on the Magenta Line on Wednesday evening.

Pandey’s colleagues had also started looking for him. Around 4.45pm on Thursday, one of his colleagues found the body at Hajipur in Sector 105, less than 2km from his house. Pandey regularly took the Metro to and from work. “We have sent the body for an autopsy,” said a police officer.

Pandey, who had been separated from his wife around 10 years ago, had been staying with his brother Sumit and his family. The Pandeys are originally from Varanasi. A Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited official said Pandey was mild-mannered and friendly and looked after the non-power business of the PSU.

“His relatives tried contacting him over phone again but it remained switched off. Later, they also tried to contact his friends and acquaintances but got no leads. Finally, they lodged a complaint on Thursday morning,” said the police officer. Sumit had left for Dehradun on Wednesday night, police said.

“Information was received about a body having been found in the Hajipur area that was identified as Amit Pandey. We have started an investigation. Relatives have denied any enmity,” circle officer Piyush Kumar said. SP (city) Arun Kumar said, “It can be a case of loot, murder or the result of resisting theft. It is a totally blind case as of now.”

Pandey’s wallet, phone and other items he was carrying on him, like his I-card, are missing, leading police to consider the possibility that he might have been killed by a gang of robbers.