5 held for Gurgaon DPS boy’s murder

Police said the youths killed Mohammad Azharuddin out of fear of being identified.

The arrested persons have been identified as Manoj Yadav,Sayeed Aftab,Ravi Sakhia,Mohammed Anish,and Thomas.

Azharuddin was abducted by the suspects on November 21 while he was headed for Palwal,Haryana. According to a complaint lodged by his father Mohammad Akhtar,the teen was going to a bank in Palwal to furnish documents regarding an education loan for his sister,a BBA student.

According to the police,Azharuddin met three of the five accused — Sayeed Aftab (a family friend),Ravi Kumar Sakhia and Manoj Yadav on way to Palwal.

Gurgaon DCP (Crime) Anil Dhawan today said Ravi got off near Bhondsi while Manoj and Aftab drove till Palwal. Thereafter,they told Azharuddin that since they had hired the car for the entire day,they wanted to drive a little further,he said. They went to Etah,in Uttar Pradesh.

Dhawan said the accused have confessed that Azharuddin got wind of their plan and raised alarm. Scared of being identified by the victim,they strangulated him and dumped the body in the nearby forests.

Akhtar approached the police after his son did not return till late evening. A missing case was registered at Bhondsi police station on November 22.

Akhtar received a call from Azharuddin’s number on December 17; the caller claimed to have kidnapped his son and demanded a Rs 50-lakh ransom. But their luck ran out after Akhtar agreed to meet and hand them the ransom. “The accused persons could not call from Azharuddin’s mobile phone to tell the location since the phone’s balance was low,” DCP Dhawan said. “Instead,they called from a Delhi number and we traced the call.”

Police said the other two arrested persons — Mohammed Anish,a call centre cab driver,and Thomas,an auto-rickshaw driver — helped the trio. Both are residents of Sangam Vihar,South Delhi.

According to the police,the arrested five have confessed to their crime and the police have taken them in remand to trace the body. Two other accomplices in the crime are still at large,the police said.

Manoj is a second-year student of BSc (correspondence),while Aftab is a first year student of MBA from a private university in UP. Ravi is a photographer.