Man who murdered taxi driver arrested Into day 2, over 4k samples collected for 2nd sero study

NEW DELHI: The police on Sunday nabbed a man and claimed to have busted a gang that booked outstation cabs from Delhi before murdering the driver and fleeing with his vehicle and other valuables.

Police said the arrested suspect, identified as Vikas Tomar, had killed a taxi driver in June this year and might have been involved in a similar murder in 2008.

Investigators said they had launched efforts to arrest other members of the gang and were trying to ascertain if they were involved in multiple murders.

Tomar, police said, is a resident of Baghpat in UP. He is a graduate and is married two kids.

Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) PK Mishra said that on June 15 a missing persons report was lodged by the family members of a cab driver Pradeep Singhal, 35, of Vijay Vihar, Rohini. the family alleged that Singhal had gone missing on June 12 along with his taxi.

“A search operation was started and after checking call details and a number of CCTV footages, we received information about a body that was recovered in Rabupura district of Gautam Buddha Nagar, which resembled Singhal. The body was later positively identified as that of Singhal by his family. A case of murder was registered and investigations started,” Mishra said.

During preliminary probe, when police teams scanned through Singhal’s call details, they zeroed down on three suspicious mobile phone numbers.

“Following days of surveillance we managed to identify the prime suspect as Vikas Tomar, who may have been previously involved in a murder case of a taxi driver in 2008 and is currently out on bail. His hideouts were raided and we finally managed to arrest him on July 26,” Mishra said.

The officer said, during interrogation Tomar confessed to having killed Singhal.

Mishra also said the city police are also probing if Tomar has potentially been involved in multiple murders.

NEW DELHI: More than 4,000 blood samples have been collected over two days from at least eight revenue districts in the Capital as part of the ongoing serological survey, a senior official in the Delhi health department said, adding that 115 teams have so far been engaged in the exercise. The study has also been extended by two days, officials said, till August 7.

“So far, we have formed 115 teams and they have collected more than 4,000 blood samples from across localities that fall under the jurisdiction of eight out of 11 revenue districts over Saturday and Sunday. From Monday, the survey is likely to be spread over all 11 districts,” said a senior official in the Delhi government’s health department who did not wish to be identified.

Around 15,000 blood samples will be collected, according to guidelines released by the state government.

The study is intended to reflect how many people have contracted the Sars-Cov-2 virus and recovered from Covid-19.