M A I N   N E W S

Missing councillor murdered, colleague arrested
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 27
Atma Ram Gupta, a 50-year-old Congress municipal councillor from Tri Nagar, who was reported missing for the past four days, has been murdered and his body disposed of somewhere in western Uttar Pradesh allegedly by his fellow corporator, Sharda Jain and her brother, Raj Kumar, alias Raju.

The brother and sister have been arrested while a hunt has been launched to trace four other persons involved in the alleged crime. According to the police, Sharda had hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Gupta as he had reportedly developed “ relations with some other woman”.

The police said efforts were on to trace the body and teams had been sent to Muzzaffar Nagar and Meerut. The alleged murder of the father of three and senior member of the all-powerful standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and chairman of its appointment committee has sent shock waves through the political circles here.

Gupta was last seen leaving with Sharda in her car after the Congress rally at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds here on Saturday. When he did not return home till late in the night, a case was registered at the Keshavpuram police station. Sharda had earlier claimed that she had dropped her fellow corporator on the way.

Later, under intensive interrogation, Sharda is reported to have broken down and confessed to the killing. A former school teacher, she was initiated into politics by Gupta who is also believed to have helped her secure a ticket for the corporation elections held earlier this year.

According to the police, Gupta was shot dead in front of Sharda at Ghaziabad where she took him on the pretext of purchasing land. Thereafter she came back to her house in the Capital. The other suspects, Roshan Singh, Raju Nai and two others are absconding.

The police said Sharda had paid Rs 60,000 to the killers for the murder of the councillor.