Army man’s murder mystery solved, 7 held

PRAYAGRAJ, Feb 16 (HS): Police on Tuesday claimed to have resolved the murder mystery of an army man, who was found dead under mystery circumstances in the back seat of his car in Neem Sarai area under Dhoomanganj police station in Prayagraj on Saturday. Seven people have been arrested and identified as Chotu ‘Akash Bhartiya, Kuldeep Bhartiya ‘Bhaiya’, Bablu, Guddu, Vikas, Suttan and Ajay all residents of Bhagalpurwa under Dhoomanganj police station of Prayagraj.

The deceased had been identified as Ashutosh Singh (38), Army constable posted at Udhampur in Kashmir, who came to his native place in Allahabad, two months ago on vacation.

During interrogation, accused told police that two of them were sitting on the road, when they saw a white car coming towards them. The army personnel blew the horn and asked those sitting on the road to move away. However, the accused turned a blind eye and entered into a verbal scuffle with the army man after being repeatedly asked to move by Army man. Later, the army man parked his car in an isolated spot and he along with the woman accompanying him, alighted and went to sit on the back seat of the car. Accused finding something fishy, called their friends over phone. Later, they again started abusing and attacked the army man with stones and sharp edged weapons. During the scuffle, the army man died on the spot and the woman accompanying him was molested and raped by the accused.

Police was under immense pressure to resolve the mystery surrounding the death of army man. Teams were constituted and intricate grassroot network activated to zero in on the whereabouts of accused. On Tuesday, they were arrested from a hideout near Bhagalpurwa sewage treatment plant under Dhoomanganj police station and later produced before court.