Two men arrested for NTPC engineer’s murder

Police said Akhilesh was an auto driver and Deepak had an autorickshaw spare parts business.

Saji was murdered on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway near Kherki Dhaula while he was returning home on July 27.

Although the police claimed that the duo had come with the intention of robbery and the engineer was killed when he tried resisting them,the family members had alleged that the murder was pre-planned.

Saji (40),hailing from Kerala,was married to Sandra,an Italian running a shelter home in Darbaripur village of Gurgaon.

Saji’s’s brother P Johney has earlier told Newsline that the attack on Saji was pre-planned and evidence pointed to someone else being with Saji while he was returning home.

“He did not have enmity with anybody and he was not the kind to offer a lift to strangers. Around six months ago,he said that he had joined NTPC,” Johney said.

However,police denied these allegations. “The two men had come with the sole intention of robbing the engineer of his cash and car. When Saji tried resisting the robbery attempt,the men got angry and beat him to death with an iron rod,” said Narendra Sangwan,SHO,Kherki Dhaula police station.

“After the murder,the duo fled with Saji’s Maruti Ritz,mobile phone,laptop and a briefcase which contained some important documents,” the Sangwan said.

Police said they have recovered the stolen Maruti Ritz. “Akhilesh and Deepak also stole around Rs 16,000,which Saji had with him at the time of the incident,” the officer said.

With a police hunt on to arrest the murders,the duo fled to Rajasthan and later went to Uttar Pradesh,police said. “Akhilesh and Deepak returned to Gurgaon recently and acting on a tip-off,we arrested them on Saturday,” said a police officer.

The men were produced before a local court and remanded in police custody for two days. “We are questioning the duo further to know if there were others involved in the incident,” the officer said.