Suspect in aspiring fashion designer’s murder commits suicide

Abhinav Pal, the prime suspect in the murder of aspiring fashion designer Arpit Dixit, committed suicide in a hotel in Bahraich late Sunday night by shooting himself with a country made gun, police said. The body was recovered on Monday morning.

“Abhinav was the prime suspect in the murder of his friend Arpit and the Lucknow police was searching for him. Initial probe suggests that Abhinav ended his life in guilt,” said Lucknow’s additional superintendent of police, (West) Vikas Chandra Tripathi who was investigating the case after Arpit’s murder came to light on Sunday.

Pal, a resident of Kanpur, checked into Hotel Harsh Palace, Bahraich, around 9am on Saturday.

According to police, after checking in, he went out to take a round of the city and returned late in the evening.

Pal went out again on Sunday morning and returned around 4pm and then confined himself to the room.

On Monday morning, when the housekeeping staff of the hotel was cleaning rooms, they knocked at Pal’s room. But there was no reply. When the hotel staff somehow managed to open the door, they found Pal lying dead on the bed. The hotel staff then informed the police.

Police that Pal had shot himself by pressing the country made gun against his neck which minimised the sound. The hotel staff did not hear the gun shot, they added.

Tripathi said the Lucknow police team is in touch with Behraich police and trying to ascertain the cause behind Abinav’s suicide.

Cops also recovered the gun and an axe with blood stains. The police suspect that Pal had used the same axe to kill Arpit although they had earlier said that the latter was strangulated.

Arpit, a native of Shahjahanpur, was found dead in a hotel in Lucknow, on Sunday. Arpit and his Abhinav had checked into the same hotel room on May 3. His decomposed body was discovered on Sunday.

Pal, who was a native of TP Nagar locality of Kanpur and a teacher at polytechnic college in Bahraich, had booked the room online.