The Panipat Police have arrested an accused allegedly involved in the killing of three friends by running them over with a Scorpio vehicle. The arrest was made from Patti Kalyana Road late on Friday evening.
The accused has been identified as Manish, a resident of Dikadla village in the district.
According to a complaint lodged by Virender Gahlayan, brother of deceased Narender, he received a call from a villager informing him that three men, including his brother, had been critically injured and were being taken to a hospital in Panipat.
Virender stated that when he reached the hospital, Narender was still conscious despite a head injury. Narender allegedly told him that due to an old enmity, Manish, along with Sandeep, Ravinder, Navin, Tushar, Sachin, Neeraj, Rajbir alias Raja of Dikadla village and Sooraj of Atta village, had attempted to kill them by ramming their vehicle into them.
The complaint further states that Narender believed the accused held a grudge as mining authorities had earlier seized a trailer and dumper allegedly linked to Manish in an illegal mining case.
As per the FIR, Narender had returned from Haridwar on Wednesday evening and later went for a walk with Vinod and Aneep. The trio was returning on Vinod’s scooter when a black Scorpio allegedly hit them from behind. After they fell on the road, the attackers allegedly assaulted them before fleeing the spot.
Following the complaint, a case was registered against nine persons under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Police recovered the Scorpio used in the crime from a dhaba on the NH-44 the same night. One tyre of the vehicle was found burnt, reportedly after it got punctured during the escape and was driven at high speed. The accused later abandoned the vehicle at the dhaba and fled.
Taking serious note of the incident, Superintendent of Police Bhupender Singh handed over the case to the CIA-1 unit for investigation and arrest of the accused.
DSP Headquarters Satish Kumar Vats said the CIA-1 unit acted on inputs and arrested Manish from Patti Kalyana Road in the Samalkha area on Friday night.
During preliminary interrogation, the accused allegedly admitted his involvement in the killing along with his associates, the DSP added.
The accused was produced in court on Saturday and sent to 10 days of police remand, he said.
