Two people — a cleaner of a truck and his associate —have been arrested for allegedly killing a truck driver and robbing him of Rs 13,500. “The main accused has been identified as Pushpender Chaudhary (21), a resident of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh (UP). His juvenile associate has also been nabbed in the case,” said DCP (Central) Parmaditya.
The incident surfaced on Tuesday when an abandoned truck was found at Rani Jhansi Road in central Delhi with its cabin stinking. “When the lock of the truck was opened, a decomposed body with stab injuries on the stomach and throat was found on the back seat of the cabin. Immediately, investigation was taken up in the case,” he added.
The body was identified as one of Keshav Dev alias Keshav Singh a resident of Agra, UP. Since then a massive manhunt was launched to nab the assailants. All the trucks which came from Agra to Delhi were identified. “The truck drivers/ cleaners were examined and their movement was verified. Apart from this, a drive for the verification of the criminals with similar modus operandi was also launched. During the examination of the truck drivers, it was learnt that the deceased has kept a cleaner recently and the deceased was last seen with him and he was found missing,” he said.
During the hunt operation, another cleaner was also found missing from a truck parked at Kishan Ganj Railway Station. On Wednesday, after receiving a tip off that the accused will come to the railway station, the cops laid a trap and arrested them.
On interrogation, they admitted of committing the crime. Pushpender Chaudhary told the police that he was a cleaner in another truck that also plies on the same route and was a friend of the helper with whom he plotted the murder. “He was in need of money and both the cleaners were aware of the fact that Keshav has returned from the transport company after collecting the payment. He hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the truck driver and rob the money. When the deceased was asleep in the cabin of the truck, Pushpender took out a knife from his truck and they stabbed him and robbed Rs 13,500. Also, they slit his throat,” the official added.
Thereafter, they decided to dump the body and take the truck out of Delhi, but seeing the police movement in the night near Rani Jhansi Road, they parked it there and fled away, the police added.