In connection with the sensational murder of three persons of Premnagar whose bodies were found in Sitarganj, Udham Singh Nagar Police arrested two persons, including the car driver, Sanjay Pant alias Sonu, and his aide Anil Kumar, resident of Sisiya, on Tuesday.
Sonu had allegedly murdered three persons - Premnagar resident Rajendra Joshi and his mother Kamla Joshi and his six-year-old son Bhaskar Joshi - who had gone missing while going to Pithoragarh from Dehradun in the car driven by Sonu on November 27.
Accused Sonu had allegedly shot Rajendra Joshi and his mother Kamla Joshi while Bhaskar died from wounds inflicted on his throat and chest with knife. Police recovered weapons like pistol, bullets, and knife aside from stolen gold items from Sonu's possession, said Udham Singh Nagar SSP Kewal Khurana. He said that while being grilled, Sonu had admitted his crime, saying that he was having illicit relationship with Chanchal, wife of Rajendra's brother Deeepak Joshi. Rajendra being aware of the relationship, both were used to quarrel over the matter.
Sonu and Chanchal had allegedly hatched a plan to murder Rajendra, his mother and Rajendra's son to acquire four bigha lands worth around Rs 5 cr which was registered in the name of Rajendra's father. Sonu had planned to marry Chanchal and later, bumping off Deepak Joshi, brother of Rajendra, to acquire the coveted land.
It should be mentioned here that Udham Singh Nagar police had recovered a body of a six-year old child at SIIDCUl Phase-II under SIIDCUl police post in Sitarganj in Udham Singh Nagar on November 29. Police conducted postmortem of the body and its report revealed that the child had received ante-mortem injury and died due to excessive bleeding. Report also revealed possible animal biting on the child. As the body remained unidentified information related to this body was disseminated within the district and other parts of the State.
On November 28, an unclaimed car was recovered by police of Vilaspur (Ramnagar, Uttar Pradesh). Vilaspur police had recovered a diary containing mobile numbers. Based on this, police had contacted one Pavan Joshi, resident of Pithoragarh. It was revealed later that this vehicle belonged to Rajendra Joshi alias Raju, resident of Shyampur, Premnagar, Dehradun. Pavan who was relative of Rajendra Joshi had informed about the same to Rajendra Joshi's relatives. It is learnt that Rajendra Joshi and his mother Kamla Joshi and his son Bhashkar had gone to Pithoragarh regarding Rajendra's second marriage. As Rajendra did not know driving he had hired Sonu, a neighbour.
Deepak Joshi, brother of Rajendra Joshi, having failed to contact his missing kin had lodged a missing complaint in Premnagar police station. Vilaspur police had informed Premnagar police about recovery of Rajendra's car. A zero FIR was lodged in Premnagar and case was transferred to Vilaspur police station (Uttar Pradesh). On December 3, Deepak had identified the body recovered in Sitarganj, Udham Singh Nagar. The US Nagar police had kept the body for identification. Deepak Joshi had registered a complaint, stating that his nephew had been murdered and Rajendra and his mother were missing. A case under sections 302/201/364 of IPC was registered against unidentified persons in Sitarganj police station. later police recovered bodies of Rajendra and his mother Kamla from SIIDCUl. Several teams from Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun, SOG and team from Uttar Pradesh were formed to investigate the case.