DU student murdered by dating app friend: Police

The accused has confessed that on March 22 he had a fight with the victim at a food joint near Dwarka Sector 13. He killed the student with a hammer.

AJAY CHAUDHARY, joint commissioner of police (New Delhi)

NEW DELHI: Police on Thursday claimed to have solved the kidnapping-murder of a Delhi university student, with the arrest of a 25-year-old man.

Police said the two had met on a ‘dating app’ around 10 days before the murder.

On Wednesday night, the body of the 21-year-old DU student was found in a drain in Dwarka’s Sector 13. Police said investigation established the identity of the body as that of the DU student who was reportedly kidnapped for a ransom of ₹50 lakh on March 22.

Ajay Chaudhary, joint commissioner of police (New Delhi) said the victim was killed by the man named Ishrat Ali,25, on the night of March 22.

The officer said the victim met Ishrat, who works as a sampling manager for export houses, through a ‘dating app.’

“During our investigation, we found the victim had met Ishrat thrice in 10 days before the murder. On the afternoon of the incident, the two friends had met at a food joint near Dwarka Sector 13, where his body was found. Ishrat confessed that on the night of March 22, he had a fight with the victim over some issue after which he killed the victim with a hammer,” said Chaudhary, adding that police are probing what exactly triggered Ishrat to murder his friend.

The officer said that Ishrat has confessed to have murdered the DU student and then made the ransom call.

“He called the victim’s father over Whatsapp. He demanded a ransom and tried to pass off the case as kidnapping to mislead investigators,” said Chaudhary.

Police said that on March 22, they received a complaint from the victim’s family informing that the young man had not returned home from college. The victim’s father also said that he had received a Whatsapp ransom call demanding ₹50 lakh. A photograph of the young man, with his hands and legs tied, was also sent to his father.

“We had started investigation and were in touch with the family. Some eyewitnesses claimed to have seen the victim with Ishrat at Mcdonalds. We checked the CCTV footage and saw them at the joint. On March 26, our 30 police teams in plain clothes waited for the kidnapper in Uttam Nagar where he had asked to deliver the money but he did not come, ” said Chaudhary.

HT tried to take comments from the victim’s family on the number mentioned on the victim’s identity card but both the phones numbers were switched off. The family reportedly told a newspaper that police had asked them to keep Rs 10 lakh ready and buy time with the kidnappers. A newspaper report quoted the victim’s family calling the police careless in their investigation, leading to the victim’s death.