Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police have arrested one of the two suspected shooters who allegedly took up the contract killing for ₹5 lakh allegedly promised by two absconding sons of the deceased, officials said on Thursday in the daylight murder of a 58-year-old retired personnel of the Indian Air Force in Loni on December 26.
Yogesh Kumar, a retired warrant officer who retired on July 31, was shot dead by two unidentified bikers on a road near Ashok Vihar in Loni in the afternoon.
Following an FIR for murder lodged by Nitesh Kumar, 28, elder son of the deceased, the police initiated an investigation and have arrested Arvind Singh, 32, a neighbour of the deceased, from the old check-post area near Ashok Vihar.
Officials said that Arvind, along with his brother-in-law, Naveen Kumar—a constable with the UP police having a posting in Kaushambi district—was allegedly hired by the two sons of the deceased, who promised to pay ₹5 lakh.
Police said that two sons of the deceased, Nitesh Kumar, and Guddu Kumar, 22, are absconding.
The officials said that Nitesh works at a private firm in Gurugram and Guddu also works for a Delhi firm. and they both earn about ₹15,000-20,000 per month as salary.
“It has turned out to be a case of contract killing. The two sons of the deceased were annoyed with him, as their father was asking them to leave the house so that he could sell it. Further, the deceased was spending his money outside and not paying much at home. During the investigation, we have come to know that he also purchased a house at Paschim Vihar in Delhi along with a 42-year-old woman, also from Delhi. So, all these developments angered his two sons, and they approached Arvind, who has a criminal background,” said Siddharth Gautam, ACP (Loni circle).
The ACP said that suspect Arvind, when he was a minor, was involved in the murder case of seven people at Barari village in Bulandshahr’s Aurangabad in 2008.
“His father, Ranvir Singh, was convicted in the case while a case is on against Arvind,” said Mukesh Singh Solanki, SHO (Loni police station).
The ACP said that in the current case, two sons of the deceased Yogesh Kumar allegedly planned his killing about 10 days before the murder and also held two meetings with the suspects.
“UP police constable Naveen was driving the bike while Arvind was riding pillion on the day of the murder. They borrowed the bike from their friend. When they came close to the victim on the road, Arvind hit him with an iron rod and fired a shot at his head. The second headshot was fired by Naveen. They fled thereafter and left the bike at an isolated place. During the investigation, the broken taillight of their bike was spotted in CCTV, and this helped with reaching the bike owner. He told us that two had borrowed his bike,” the ACP added.
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