21 June,2011 07:19 AM IST | | Anurag Jadli
Police arrest two of his employees, say illicit relationship and loot could be motives
The body of the construction company owner who went missing from Sarita Vihar in southeast Delhi on Friday was found at Noida sector 92 on Monday morning. Police recovered the body after getting a tip-off from two of Vinod Kumar Bansal's employees who were arrested on Monday. The arrested have been identified as Sonu and Deepak Kumar.
Later, they recovered the body of Delhi businessman Vinod Bansal
"We arrested the two from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. The third accused is still on the run. A manhunt is on to nab him," said Ajay Chaudhary, Additional CP, South East Delhi. A goldsmith who bought the robbed articles from the accused was also arrested.
Police arrested one of the accused Sonu (above left) on Monday from
a house in Noida sector 92. PIcs/Imtiyaz Khan
Loot-mar
According to the police, loot was the motive behind the murder. However, sources claim that an illicit relation might have triggered the incident. "The deceased was having an affair with the wife of one of the accused and had gone to meet her before he went missing," said the police source. However, the police officials were tightlipped about it.
Bansal had allegedly visited Deepak's wife in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar before he got murdered. After he was kidnapped on Friday night, there was allegedly a ransom call of Rs 2 crore to his family, failing which the kidnappers had threatened to kill Bansal. The police however claim that no such ransom call had come.
Explaining that the case was far from 'a classic case of abduction', additional CP Chaudhary said the duo simply wanted to get their hands on the Rs 4-5 lakhs that Bansal normally carried with him. The accused had lured him to the semi-constructed plot with a seemingly 'alluring and attractive' bait.
Striking a deal
Police officials said that on Friday Bansal left his GK III residence on the pretext of striking 'a mysterious deal' with one of his associates. He then went missing and his cell phone was found switched off. His family members contacted the police and got an FIR lodged with Chittaranjan Park Police Station.
Bansal's Toyota was found abandoned in Pari Chowk in Greater Noida on Saturday morning. The Southeast Delhi Police interrogated Vinod's family members. They then searched the data of employees and found that Deepak, Bansal's ex-employee who lived in Pratapgarh in UP, was also missing after the incident.
Police tried to contact him and found that he was living in his sister's house in Tilak Nagar along with his wife. A raid was conducted and Deepak was nabbed. During interrogation Deepak broke down and confessed his hand in Bansal's kidnapping and murder. He told the police that his friend Sonu is the mastermind.
Wrong number
In fact, Sonu's was the last call Bansal received according to phone records. "Deepak told the police that they murdered Vinod by slitting his throat with a sharp weapon. They then dumped his body in Noida sector 92 and scooted with his valuables and abandoned his car," said the police official. Sonu was arrested later. His father is posted with the CISF in Delhi.
The accused sold the valuables to Rakesh who owns a jewellery shop in Kunda Tehsil in UP. The accused had been working with Bansal for around three years.
