Himachal police rules out terror angle in driver’s murder and missing car

Director General of Police, Sanjay Kumar, said, “So far our investigations have not shown any such link and efforts are underway to trace the culprits and recover the missing vehicle, apparently hijacked by three accused who had hired the taxi on January 14 evening from Gaggal.”

Earlier on Friday, the Delhi Police had issued an alert for a white Alto car (HPO1 D 2440) which went missing after it was hired by three unknown people from Pathankot. In a tweet, police said the driver, Vijay Kumar, was found dead on January 20 and that his body was recovered from the Kalta bridge in Kangra district.

ALERT Pathankot Alto Carjacked… Here are the images of the suspects. #SayNoToTerror #SafeTogether pic.twitter.com/VfBC1b5qDY

— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) January 22, 2016

Family of Kumar had lodged a report with the police next day but there was no breakthrough till his body was found near on January 20.

Kangra’s Superintendent of Police, Abhishek Dular, told The Indian Express that the death of Vijay Kumar was caused by strangulation. “I have set-up a special team to investigate the case. Parties have been sent to some local villages to trace the culprits. We have some vital clues and taken CCTV footage of the Gaggal Chowk where the vehicles was hired on that evening.”

“Right now, investigations don’t suggest any terrorists angle. Yes, there could be a drug angle as the deceased had two cases of trafficking at Chamba, though he was acquitted some time back for lack of evidence,” Dular said.