Taxi driver killed near Pehowa, 3 held

Our Correspondent

Kaithal, January 3

The lure to make a quick buck led four youths murder a taxi driver two days before the New Year. The plan was to sell off the taxi later. But before they could do that, three of them were arrested today.

Those arrested are Sanjeev, Mohit (both from the district’s Moghomajri village) and Sahil from Ram Nagar here. Their accomplice, Vicky of the district’s Manas village, is on the run.

The arrested accused were produced in a local court, which sent them to four-day police custody.

The case was cracked as taxi driver-cum-owner, identified as Sandeep of Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), had a habit of informing his family of mobile phone numbers of his customers.

The CIA in-charge, Inspector Mahaveer Singh, said that on December 29, the accused had conspired to earn some quick money. For that, they planned to hire a taxi, kill the driver and sell off the vehicle.

The next day, they went to Chandigarh and hired a taxi for Pehowa, Singh said. On their way, they asked Sandeep to stop the taxi near Ismailabad on some pretext. They allegedly strangled the driver with a rope and dumped his body on the rear seat. On reaching Kaithal, they threw his body in a drain, the CIA in-charge said.

The police recovered Sandeep’s mobile phone near his body. On calling the last dialed number, they learnt about his identity and, subsequently, arrested Sanjeev, from whose cellphone the taxi was hired.

During interrogation, Sanjeev revealed the names of his accomplices.

With the murder case solved, the police also cracked a case of extortion.

One of the accused, Sahil, confessed to have made an extortion call to local businessman Naresh Jain in October last year. He had demanded Rs 20 lakh as “protection money” for his and son’s safety.

Sahil’s father is an employee in Jain’s firm.