February 25, 2009 1:28:57 am
The prime suspect in the murder of Lucknow University student Rakesh Kumar alias Munna was a close friend and classmate of the deceased.
Munnas dismembered body was found in a box in a Khurshed Bagh flat on Sunday. According to the police,Ravi Gupta,the prime suspect,has been missing since February 20,the day Munnas father lodged a police complaint about his missing son.
The police have questioned relatives of Gupta and his girlfriend to know his whereabouts. She was once named in a murder case,but acquitted by the court,said the police,adding that Anurag,the other suspect,was from Basti. Anurag had rented the Khurshed Bagh flat and Gupta had been staying with him for the last one year.
Lucknow SSP (Law & Order) Raghuvir Lal said they were yet to ascertain the role of Anurag in the murder. His cellphone record showed that he was in Basti since February 18 till he was held on Tuesday.
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A police team visited the flat today and collected some belongings of Gupta. The SSP said his cellphone record and interrogation of his girlfriend confirmed that he stayed in the flat till late February 18 night the day Munna went missing.
The fingerprints on the polythene bag in which body parts were kept,the box in which the body was packed,and the empty glasses recovered from the spot will help in nailing the killer, said the SSP.
Gupta had visited Munnas house the morning after he went missing and inquired about him. Same evening,he went there again and accompanied Munnas brother Rajesh and others to search for Munna at the places,which he could have possibly visited,said a police officer.
However,Gupta disappeared on February 20,the day Munnas father Chandi Prasad lodged a police complaint,said Lal.
According to the SSP,Gupta had not given his cellphone number to his friends,father and brother. His girlfriend,a resident of Alambagh area,also did not have his number. He told everybody that he did not like keeping a phone, said the SSP. The police found Guptas number from his associate in smuggling from Nepal,the SSP said. His call details show no call to or from any friend or family member. But he received calls from people about whom his family or friends know nothing. This indicates a criminal instinct, Lal said. The SSP said four separate teams have been conducting raids in Sidhhartha Nagar,Basti and Faizabad for Gupta. The motive behind the murder will be known only after Ravi was caught, he said.
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