Police said the accused was produced in court on Friday and has been taken into police remand for further questioning. (Representational)A 22-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly murdering three people on three consecutive nights last week with the intention of subsequently looting them.
According to police, the accused, identified as Mohammad Raji, was arrested on Thursday near IFFCO Chowk.
“The accused used to work in housekeeping at a guest house in Gurgaon, but had been unemployed for the last one month. During questioning, he said he committed three murders last week, on the nights of November 23, 24, and 25,” said ACP (Crime) Preet Pal Sangwan.
Police officials said the accused, who hails from Bihar, would lure the victims into consuming alcohol with him, and stab them after they were intoxicated.
Later, he would then gather their belongings and flee.
In the first murder, which he committed on the night of November 23, the accused had allegedly stabbed a youth to death near Leisure Valley Park.
The following night, he allegedly stabbed a security guard to death in the green belt area in Sector 40.
Police said the third murder was the most brutal, with the body of the deceased, identified as 26-year-old Rakesh Kumar, being found decapitated. His head, officials said, was recovered only after Raji’s arrest.
“The body of the deceased had been found in an empty plot in front of the Vigilance Bureau office in Sector 47. He was identified through his Aadhaar card, following which his relatives were alerted and they confirmed his identity. Despite searches by the police and his family near the spot, the severed head was nowhere to be found,” said the ACP.
“During questioning, the accused revealed that he had slit the victim’s throat, because of which he began bleeding profusely. To prevent police from identifying the deceased, the accused then detached his head from his body, tied it in a cloth, and hid it in some bushes. The body was thrown into a drain. The head has been recovered from a deserted area in Kanhai village in Sector 40, based on the information revealed by the accused,” he said.
*Police said they scanned footage from “250 to 300 CCTV cameras” to trace the accused. “His arrest a week later is the result of the information procured through that footage, other methods of investigation, as well as police sources,” said Subhash Boken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.
Meanwhile, Kumar’s relatives, when contacted, said they were unaware of any links between the accused and him. “We do not know who the accused is or how Rakesh knew him,” said Yogesh, Kumar’s older brother.
Police said the accused was produced in court on Friday and has been taken into police remand for further questioning.