New Delhi: A 32-year-old employee of a transport company who was thought to be murdered during a robbery in west Delhi on November 3 was actually killed by a former driver of the firm who was sacked a few months ago, police claimed.
Three people, including the driver, were caught on Monday and two more associates are likely to be arrested soon. Jitender Sharma, who used to work as a cash clerk for two transport companies in Azadpur, was stabbed 28 times by the accused who had also robbed him of Rs 2 lakh.
The driver has been identified as Kuldeep Panwar and both his associates are named Rajesh, said DCP (Rohini) P K Mishra. The accused told police that Panwar had hatched a plan of robbery but four people were present at the scene of crime in Moti Nagar. Since the victim resisted their attempt, they had stabbed him consecutively, police were told.
Sharma’s wife, who was applying mehendi to celebrate Karwa Chauth when the news reached the family, is still in shock, family members said.
Moti Nagar police station had received a PCR call around 10.07pm about a man having been stabbed near the Moti Nagar flyover. A police team took him to Acharya Bhikshu Hospital but he was declared brought dead.
It was revealed that Sharma had left his office on Tuesday with around Rs 2 lakh that he had to distribute among truck drivers. He was on his motorcycle when the accused intercepted him near the Zakhira roundabout, the west district police said. They had fled with the bag after killing him.
While the west district police couldn’t reach any breakthrough, a head constable named Suresh, posted at Budh Vihar police station, got a tipoff and a team led by SHO Khemendra Pal Singh laid a trap in Shahbad Dairy.
Around 1.30am on Monday, two persons riding a motorcycle were flagged down at the informer’s behest. The duo tried to flee but were chased and nabbed. Three mobile phones and Rs 15,000 were seized from them and their bike also turned out to be a stolen one. Both were identified as Rajesh and led the cops to the prime suspect, Panwar.
“Panwar disclosed that he used to work as a driver in the same transport company but was fired for unsatisfactory reasons despite his relentless devotion. He wanted to teach the owner a lesson through the robbery,” said the DCP. But Sharma resisted, leading to the brutal murder.