Man held for planning deaths of duo on pretext of ‘better selfies’
NOIDA: Two months after the bodies of two persons were found in the upper Ganga canal in Muradnagar, Noida police on Friday arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly orchestrating their deaths.
Police said the arrested accused had allegedly coaxed his “two friends” – who were in an inebriated condition – to go to the middle of the canal to click a “better selfie”.
Maintaining that Saurabh Singh, a resident of Kashyap Colony in Noida’s Sector 48, was arrested from near the City Centre Metro station by a team from Sector 24 police station on Friday morning, police said the accused wanted to kill one of the victims, Nagendra Chauhan (38), as he had passed lewd remarks about his sister.
He also wanted to get rid of Chauhan since he had taken a loan of ₹5 lakh from him.
He had, however, planned to save the other victim – Bhanu Pratap (50) – but was unable to do so, police said. On June 23, the day of the incident, Singh had ensured that he drank less alcohol while the other two drank more so that he could execute his plan and make it look like a tragic incident, police said.
Police said they have registered a case under IPC sections 302 for Chauhan’s murder and 120a for Pratap’s death.
While Chauhan, a resident of Barola village, owned an electrical goods shop, Pratap ran a grocery store in Salarpur village, police said, adding that Singh was unemployed. The three had become friends and had planned a road trip on the day of the incident, police said.
Rajeev Kumar Singh, circle officer 2, Noida police, said, “Singh intentionally drank less alcohol compared to the other two during the road trip to Muradnagar on June 23. The three entered the canal after getting drunk, when the incident took place.”
He added, “The divers first pulled out Chauhan and Singh as they were close to them. After that, they went looking for Pratap. Once they left, Singh told the crowd that had gathered at the spot that he would rush Chauhan to a nearby hospital. He then put Chauhan in his car and drove towards Meerut Road that goes towards Ghaziabad. On a desolated stretch, he stopped his car, brought Chauhan out and hit him with a metallic object on his private parts and head. He then threw the body inside a drain.”