Murder most brutal

Kumar (26) was a resident of Mansa Devi Complex in Sector 4,Panchkula,and ran a realty business from his office at Kharar.

The police said Kumar was killed around 11 pm on Friday; but the body,which was beyond recognition,was identified only on Saturday evening. Kumar’s family members identified the car from the partly burnt number plate. “A case of murder and causing disappearance of evidence of crime has been lodged against unknown persons and the body shifted to the Civil Hospital for postmortem,which will be conducted on Sunday,” said Mullanpur SHO Lakhwinder Singh.

On getting a call from Ropar police,who were initially informed by a passer-by on seeing a car on fire,Mohali police authorities immediately rushed to the spot on Friday night and summoned a fire tender; but by the time fire was extinguished,the occupant was charred to death and the car burnt beyond recognition.

The police launched a hunt to trace the victim without any evidence to guide them; Kumar’s family was also on the lookout for the youngest of their four children,who had not returned home and was unreachable on the phone.

But on Saturday evening,after learning about the incident at Baddi,Kumar’s family went to the spot and identified the body to be his.

Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar,who spent a couple of hours to personally investigate the matter,told Newsline that Kumar was found on the backseat of the car with his legs tied together with a strong iron chain.

“With everything else reduced to ashes,few paper plates and other material was seen strewn nearby,which suggested that somebody had partaken snacks near the spot,” said Bhullar while claiming to have found some definite clues to crack the case very shortly.

Kumar’s cousin Devinder Kumar,a sarpanch of Kishangarh village in Chandigarh,told Newsline that Kumar left home alone around 8.30 pm after having food and telling his father,Mohinder Singh,who works as Works Inspector in HUDA,that he was going to watch a movie and will return home late. “As Kumar stayed on the first floor,which was connected with a staircase from outside,his parents slept off; but when they found out on Saturday morning that he had not returned yet,they started looking for him,” Devinder said.

Without expressing any apprehension or suspecting involvement of any person in the crime,Devinder said,“As of now,we don’t know how and why it has all happened.” Also the family has ruled out any motive of robbery as Kumar was not carrying much cash or other valuables. “Though he dealt in property business,he was very reserved and peace-loving person,who had no rivalry or issues with anyone,” claimed Devinder.

Kumar was engaged to a girl in Bhagwanpura village near Chandimandir almost a year ago and his wedding was scheduled for January next year. His three elder siblings – two sisters and a brother – are all married.