More than 10 days after she was shot dead in a Gurugram hotel,former model Divya Pahuja’s body was found in Bhakra canal in Haryana’s Tohana on Saturday. Pahuja’s body was identified by a tattoo on her back. The body has been recovered from the subsidiary canal of the Bhakra canal in Tohana, said Gurugram Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Kumar Dahiya.
Pahuja, 27, was murdered on January 2, over five months after she was released on bail in connection with the alleged fake encounter of a Haryana-based gangster in a Mumbai hotel room in 2016.
“The body in a decomposing situation was recovered from the Bhakra canal in Tohana, Fatehabad district,” Dahiya said.However, in connection with the murder, the police have also one another accused identified as Parvesh from Rohtak on Saturday for supplying a murder weapon and other illegal weapons to Abhijeet Singh who killed Divya. The police have so far three illegal weapons and 40 live cartridges from the possession of Abhijeet. The murder weapon is yet to be recovered. Meanwhile, a clue regarding the whereabouts of the body was revealed after the arrest of Balraj Gill, who along with his associate Ravi Banga had fled with Divya’s body.
With the help of 25 teams of NDRF, and SDRF, the police launched a search for the body from Patiala to Khanauri in Fatehabad. The police sent a photo of the body to Divya’s family, following which they identified it to be hers due to the tattoo, police said. After the confirmation, the police took possession of the body.
According to the police, Divya and Abhijeet were in a relationship and the latter killed the woman in a fit of rage after she refused to delete some of his objectionable photos from her mobile phone. Balraj had earlier said that he along with Ravi had thrown Divya’s body into the Bhakra Canal near Patiala, Punjab. The body travelled 150 km from Bhakra Canal near Patiala, Punjab to Khanauri in Fatehabad after it was recovered by the police. Balraj is being brought to Gurugram on a three-day transit remand.
He disclosed that after throwing the body into the Bhakra Canal, they abandoned the BMW used in the crime at the Patiala bus stand. According to police sources, Balraj revealed that on the night of January 2, he and Ravi had left Gurugram with the body in the BMW. After they abandoned the car in Patiala, they first went to Udaipur in a taxi.
After this, the police traced both the accused and found out that they were staying in a hotel in Udaipur. By the time the police team reached Udaipur, both the accused escaped from there and returned to Chandigarh. From Chandigarh, Balraj and Ravi boarded a train and reached Howrah, following which they parted ways
On Thursday, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued by the Gurugram Police for Balraj and Ravi amid the possibility of them fleeing abroad. The very next day, the airport police arrested Balraj from Kolkata airport.Ravi, however, remains absconding. In connection with Divya’s murder, the police have so far arrested five persons including the prime accused, Abhijeet Singh, his aides Om Prakash, Hemraj, Balraj Gill, Parvesh and a woman, Megha.
The woman had helped Abhijeet in hiding, throwing away the murder weapon, documents, and personal belongings of Divya Pahuja.Om Prakash and Hemraj had helped Abhijeet to drag Divya’s body into the boot of a BMW car.Later, Balraj and Ravi fled with the body. Megha told the police that when she reached the hotel on January 2, she noticed Divya’s body. Abhijeet then asked her to dispose of the belongings of the deceased woman, but she was too scared to follow his instructions, sources said.
The police have recovered the BMW car which was used to take the body to Patiala.w During questioning, Abhijeet told the police that Divya used to blackmail him and also extorted money.
