Three friends were crushed to death in Dikadla village, Samalkha, late Wednesday evening under suspicious circumstances. The accused reportedly tried to pass off the incident as an accident.
However, the Samalkha police booked nine persons for allegedly murdering the three friends. It is alleged that all three were crushed to death due to old enmity, as the assailants suspected that one of the deceased had filed a complaint against them regarding illegal mining.
The deceased have been identified as 48-year-old Vinod, 46-year-old Narender, and 36-year-old Aneep of Dikadla village. The accused fled the spot after committing the crime.
Virender Gahlayan, brother of deceased Narender, in his complaint to the Samalkha police, said he was at a private hospital in Samalkha when he received a call from Saket of their village informing him about the incident.
He further stated that all three were in serious condition and were being taken to a higher-level hospital in Panipat. He added that his brother Narender was conscious and had suffered an injury to his forehead.
Narender disclosed that due to old enmity, Manish, Sandeep, Ravinder, Navin, Tushar, Sachin, Neeraj, Rajbir alias Raja of Dikadla village, and Sooraj of Atta village tried to kill him by hitting him with their vehicle.
Narender said Manish’s trolley and dumper had been seized by the Mining Department for illegal mining. Manish suspected him and had also threatened him.
Virender said Narender had returned from Haridwar in the evening, after which he and his two friends Vinod and Aneep went for an evening walk toward the fields late Wednesday evening. While they were returning on Vinod’s scooter, Manish and others in his black-coloured Scorpio hit them from behind. They fell on the road, after which the accused attacked them and fled.
Virender further said they took the trio to a private hospital in Panipat, from where doctors asked them to go to the civil hospital, where all three were declared dead. He alleged that the accused murdered all three.
Following the complaint, Samalkha police registered a case against nine persons — Manish, Sandeep, Ravinder, Navin, Tushar, Sachin, Neeraj, and Rajbir of Dikadla village and Sooraj of Atta village — under Sections 103(1), 190, 191(3), and 61 of the BNS, and began a probe.
SI Deepak Kumar, SHO, Samalkha, said the bodies of the deceased were handed over to their kin after postmortem examination on Thursday.
Nine persons have been booked for murder, he said. No accused has been arrested so far as all are on the run, the SHO added. The vehicle reportedly used in the crime has been taken into custody. The accused had abandoned it elsewhere before fleeing, the SHO said.
