Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The mystery behind the headless body found near a park in central Delhi last week has been solved with the arrest of one of the three murderers, police said Friday, adding the prime accused had committed suicide a day ago.

The arrested man has been identified as Roop Chand, 50, who was the driver of the prime accused, Pawan Mittal, a factory owner. A resident of Kanjhawala in west Delhi, Roop Chand was held from Mundka area Friday, said a senior police officer.

Police said on June 25, they received a call about a dead body lying near the central park of Jhandewalan in central Delhi.

“The body, of a man aged about 40 to 45 years, had several injury marks. A search for head was conducted around the scene of crime but it could not be found,” said the officer.

“The only clue we had that the victim was wearing a shirt with a label of Decent Tailors, Dharam Pura. A search was conducted and finally the tailor, Narender Kumar, was traced in Dharam Pura area of Najafgarh and the victim was identified as Layak Ram,” said the officer.

Police said that Layak Ram, who had retired from the Border Security Force, was in the business of lending money at high interest rates.

“He had lent money to various people including Mittal. On June 24, he had left the house at about 7 a.m saying that he would return in the afternoon, but he did not return,” said the officer.

During investigations, police found that Mittal was not present in the house since the morning that day. His driver Roop Chand and employee Shatrughan were also missing.

“We also found that Shatrughan had withdrawn Rs.40,000 from Layak Ram’s State Bank of India account and Rs. 63,000 from his Punjab National Bank account through ATMs,” said the officer.

Roop Chand was then arrested following a tip off.

During interrogation, Roop Chand told police that Mittal had taken a loan from Layak Ram. “On default, Layak Ram used to take a fine of Rs.150 per day per thousand. Now, he was demanding his money but Mittal was not in a position to return it and made a plan to kill him,” said the officer.

Police said that Mittal also included Roop Chand and Shatrughan in his plan, promising them a handsome sum of money.

“Mittal called Layak Ram at his factory and gave him juice laces with a sedative. When Layak Ram became semi-unconscious, Roop Chand and Mittal killed him and also cut off his head to prevent his identification,” said the officer.

The three then dumped the head in a canal in Kanjhawala area and the dead body in the park at Jhandewalan.

Mittal and Roop Chand left for Vaishno Devi in Jammu on June 27. However, overcome by guilt, Mittal committed suicide June 30 while returning from the pilgrimage.

A search is on for Shatrughan, the officer added.