2 cops held, 3 missing after probe finds they threw body from police jeep

IO added that they are not sending the jeep for forensic examination as victim’s body did not bear any external injury.

Two constables — Amarpal and Amit— were arrested and three others, including the station officer (SO) of Moradabad’s Mudhapandey police station, are absconding after a case was registered against them following investigations in which they were found to have carried a dead body in the police jeep before throwing it in Rampur.

The police is now investigating if the five were also involved in the kidnapping and murder of Satendra Rastogi, a jeweller, whose body they had dumped in patwai police station area last week. Some school boys claimed to have seen Rastogi ‘s body being thrown out from the jeep and noted down the vehicle’s number. The vehicle was found to be that of Mudhapandey police station.

Among the five policemen, constables Amarpal and Amit were arrested Monday. They were produced before a court Tuesday and sent to jail. The others, including SO Syed Mansoor and constables Muninder and Rahul, are absconding.

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Inspector General (IG), Law and Order, Amrendra Kumar Sengar said the investigations so far have found all five policemen accused of destruction of evidence. The police is probing their role in kidnapping and murder of the jeweller.

Station officer (SO) of Majhola police station in Moradabad, Rajendra Singh, who is also the investigating officer in the case, said there are three eyewitness to the incident. The policemen have been named in the case on the basis of statements of the eyewitnesses and other evidences, which include the cellphone records of the personnel.

Singh said, the accused had claimed to have gone to Surajanpur village in Rampur to trace a criminal. The general diary (GD) of the Mudhapandey police station, also mentions the time when they left for Rampur on police jeep and the time when they returned to the police station, he confirmed.

The IO added that they are not sending the jeep for forensic examination as the victim’s body did not bear any external injury.

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Rastogi, who used to run a jewellery shop at Majhola, went missing on Monday afternoon last week. His family had lodged an information of his disappearance. His motorcycle was found from a parking lot near railway station.

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