Adispute over a ₹1,000 fare took a deadly turn inside a van in Delhi, with a driver allegedly beating a passenger to death with bricks and an earthen-pot-like object before dumping his body on a roadside, police said on Saturday.
The accused, Rajinder Kumar alias Annu, 59, told police that he had picked up the deceased from IFFCO Chowk in Gurugram, Haryana, in his van on August 17, an officer said, according to a PTI report.
Passenger refused to pay fare
During the journey, the passenger allegedly refused to pay the fare, leading to a quarrel inside the vehicle in West Delhi, police said.
Rajinder allegedly assaulted the passenger with bricks and an earthen-pot-like object, causing fatal injuries. After the killing, he allegedly called his wife, Kamini Makhija, 50, and son, Laksh Makhija, 28, to help hide the body, police said.
The officer said Kamini and Laksh allegedly helped conceal the deceased’s clothes and dispose of the vehicle used in the crime. All three were arrested on Friday night.
The case came to light after the Naraina police station received a PCR call about a body in the Naraina Vihar area, the officer said. Police reached the spot and found an unidentified man, aged around 35, lying naked and blood-stained on a pavement near the wall of a government school.
Man suffered injury after fight
The man had suffered a deep injury to the right side of his head and multiple injuries across his body, police said. Blood scattered around the spot indicated a violent assault.
“Investigators also noticed a distinctive heart-shaped tattoo with an arrow on the victim’s left forearm, bearing the names ‘Anand’ and ‘Renu’, which became an initial clue in establishing his identity,” a senior police officer said.
The crime team and Forensic Science Laboratory team inspected the scene and collected evidence before the body was sent to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where doctors declared the man brought dead. An FIR was registered and an investigation launched.
With the victim’s identity unknown and no eyewitnesses found, police examined CCTV footage from cameras around the crime scene and along roads leading to and from the area.
“Teams analysed around 500 CCTV recordings and noticed a Maruti Eeco moving suspiciously in the vicinity around the relevant time. The registration number was not initially clear, prompting police to track the vehicle through multiple cameras and reconstruct its route before and after the incident,” the officer said.
Police eventually identified the vehicle as a Maruti Eeco and traced its owner, Kumar, a resident of Naraina village. The van was recovered at the instance of Kumar’s wife Kamini, while the deceased’s clothes and shoes were recovered based on information provided by his son, Laksh.
Police are examining the van as key evidence to establish the sequence of events leading to the killing and disposal of the body. The deceased’s identity has not yet been established, and further investigation is underway.