Amritsar: 35-yr-old man found murdered in drain, police book bootlegger

Amritsar, May 2

A man was found ‘murdered’ at Ladubhana village falling under the Mattewal police station here on Wednesday. He had been missing for the last four days. His body was found in a drain at Athwal village.

The deceased was identified as Ajay Kumar (35) of Udoke Kalan village. The police took the body into their custody and sent it for a postmortem. As per a preliminary investigation, he allegedly died of consuming hooch. The police have booked Ranjit Singh, alias Kali, of Ladubhana village, who is a bootlegger, on charges of murder and destroying the evidence, said Shomanbir Singh, SHO, Mattewal police station here.

Ranjit Singh has been absconding since the incident and raids were on to nab him, said the police.

Banarsi Das, father of the victim, said Ajay Kumar was his elder son and worked as a daily wager with a construction mason. He said on April 27, he left the house on a cycle while informing his wife Harjit Kaur that he was going to the residence of Ranjit Singh, alias Kali, at Ladubhana village and would return soon. But he did not return till late in the evening. The family members searched him here and there but in vain.

On Wednesday, the police informed his family members that his body was found in a drain at Athwal village. His body had started decomposing as it was drowned.

Shomanbir said the police found wild aquatic plants circled around his body while there were bruises around his face. He said there were also blood stains on the grill of the bridge. The police followed the blood stains which were going towards Ladubhana village and led the police to the Ladubhana village pond.

“It appeared that the body was pulled out of the pond after it started floating on the surface of the water after getting decomposed after remaining drowned. There were wild aquatic growth and one of the Ajay’s slippers was found on the spot,” said the SHO. He said suspect Ranjit Singh had been absconding since the incident.

He said Ajay’s body was first thrown into the village pond, but when it came up, the accused pulled it out and dumped near the Athwal village drain.

He said the police were awaiting the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death. He said following a preliminary probe, the police booked Ranjit Singh under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC.

Had been missing for four days

• The victim had been missing for the last four days.
• The accused has been absconding since the incident and the police have started raids at different places to nab him.
• On April 27, the victim left the house informing his wife that he was going to meet accused but did not return till late in the evening.