››WHITE TOWEL, CCTV FOOTAGE HELPED COPS CRACK HOTEL MURDER
A white towel found outside Sara Grand hotel and video footage from two CCTV cameras installed at the entrance and the reception proved vital clues in the murder of receptionist Krishna Pratap Singh alias Roshan, 20, inside the hotel.
Subsequently, police identified the assailants and arrested their three accomplices, including two girls, within 10 hours of the incident. The two assailants were arrested later.
SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said a police team recovered a white towel with Shubh-Inn hotel tag on it outside Sara Grand hotel. The two hotels are at barely 100 metres apart and scanning of CCTV camera footage from both places revealed that the assailants were staying in the same hotel (Shubh-Inn), he said.
The police visited Shubh Inn hotel after spotting that one of the assailants was covering his face with a white towel. The SSP said the towel had apparently fallen outside Sara Grand hotel when the assailants tried to flee. While inquiring at Shubh Inn hotel, cops gradually discovered that the two assailants were staying there and had left immediately after the incident. The CCTV footages revealed that the two assailants Abhay Singh and Hari Om first asked Roshan to open the main entrance of the hotel around 1.49 am and started interacting with him at the reception before shooting him at 1.52 am.
According to the footage, the receptionist started making a call from his mobile number after some argument with the assailants. One of the assailants, later identified as Abhay Singh (who was covering his face with the towel), whipped out a firearm and opened fire on the receptionist.
The footage shows twice the assailant’s firearm did not fire. The bullet was fired in the third attempt but missed the target and hit the door behind the receptionist. In the fourth attempt, the receptionist was hit when he tried to move under the reception counter to save himself.
The SSP said further probe revealed the two assailants were staying in room number 202 of Shubh-Inn hotel while their accomplice Dheeraj Narang and a girl were in room number 203 of the same hotel. He said Narang had gone to meet the second girl staying in room number 217 of Sara Grand hotel at around 10 pm on Friday but the receptionist did not allow him.
He said Narang returned and later asked his two accomplices to teach a lesson to Roshan. He said the two assailants visited Sara Grand hotel later in the night and had a confrontation with the receptionist when he again refused them entry into the girl’s room. The infuriated assailants then shot dead the receptionist, he added. He said the assailants fled after committing the crime while three others stayed in their hotel room from where they were later arrested. He said their Whatsapp chat revealed the trio instigated the two assailants to commit the crime.