PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The police arrested an uncle-nephew duo for the murder of a retired mining department employee, whose body was dumped in a canal in Deoband. The victim was a cancer patient and the duo had allegedly taken the victim to Deoband under the pretext of getting him the proper treatment. They allegedly conspired to kill him to gain access to his bank balance of about Rs 25 lakh.
The police recovered Rs 4.8 lakh in cash, a cheque, an FD worth Rs five lakh and other documents from their possession, the Dehradun senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh said. He informed that on March 6, Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Lucknow filed a complaint at Raipur police station in Dehradun stating that his 68-year-old uncle, Jagdish, who lived in a rented accommodation in Nathuwala area of Dehradun, had been unreachable since February 2. His landlord informed the family that he had not returned home for several days.
The SSP said that based on the complaint, the police registered a missing person’s case and started an investigation. He said that during inquiries, police learned that Jagdish was originally from Raebareli and had retired from the mining department in Dehradun. “Analysing his mobile and bank transactions, the police found that money had been regularly transferred from his Punjab National Bank account via UPI to another account in the name of Mohit Tyagi (31). The account had been opened recently. Further investigation revealed that Jagdish used a keypad phone and was unfamiliar with online banking,” the SSP said. He stated that as the case appeared suspicious, it was reclassified as an abduction. He said, “A police team detained Mohit for questioning.
Upon interrogation, he admitted to killing Jagdish with his maternal uncle, Praveen Tyagi (55) and dumping the body in a canal in Deoband. Following this confession, Mohit was arrested and police recovered Jagdish’s SIM card, a Rs 3.5 lakh cheque, Rs three lakh in cash and the Santro car used in the crime. Later, the police arrested Praveen from Deoband and recovered Rs 1.8 lakh in cash, along with Jagdish’s Rs five lakh FD from his house.” Singh said that Mohit is an e-rickshaw driver and met Jagdish four years ago at Gujronwala Chowk, where Jagdish would often sit during the day and shared personal details, including his unmarried status, lack of close relatives and bank savings. Mohit allegedly devised a plan to access Jagdish’s money and involved his uncle Praveen.
Convincing Jagdish to travel to Deoband for cancer treatment, Mohit took him there on February 4 and strangled him with a rope the next day and dumped it in a canal. Mohit took Jagdish’s keypad phone and a copy of his Aadhaar card and then linked the SIM to a UPI ID and transferred Rs 13 lakh to his account after returning to Dehradun. He also reportedly gave some amount to Praveen in cash and made an FD in his name. “Both accused have been arrested and further legal proceedings are underway,” Singh said.
