Two days after the brutal murder of a fourth-year student of Government Medical College, who was stabbed multiple times, Patiala police have cracked the case with the arrest of the victim’s childhood friend. Three police parties spent over 49 hours to nab the culprit.
Senior officials confirmed the arrest of Mohit Verma, who allegedly stabbed the victim Kamaldeep Mittal over 28 times and ensured that “he was dead”. “Mohit has initially confessed to having usurped over Rs 12 to 13 lakh from the victim and was demanding more. He had not returned the earlier loan too and got furious when the victim demanded it back.”
On Monday, the Patiala police had booked Verma for Kamaldeep’s murder.
“Initial probe and post-mortem report suggest that the accused stabbed the victim multiple times near his neck and we suspect that he used two kinds of weapons to execute the crime,” said an official. “We managed to arrest him on Wednesday evening and will present him in the court on Thursday to seek his police remand. His initial questioning suggests that he is not remorseful about his act of crime,” said a cop attached to the case.
On Tuesday, the police said that following a call to the police control room, their teams swung into action on Monday night. “It was only after the victim did not answer phone calls, that his relatives informed his local guardians, who then informed the police after his body was found in a pool of blood in his PG accommodation in New Lal Bagh. He had injury marks from a sharp-edged weapon around his neck,” the cop added.
Kamaldeep was a resident of Bareta village in Mansa. “The accused, Mohit, also belongs to the same village and had known the deceased for over a decade. A college dropout, the accused was a regular visitor to the victim’s Patiala-based PG accommodation,” said a senior official.
“The body bore injury marks due to multiple stabbings near the neck,” said police. “We have registered an FIR and further probe is under way. As of now, it appears to be the handiwork of one accused, however, we are not ruling out the involvement of more than one accused,” said police.
Meanwhile, family members of the victim said that their son had no enmity with anyone and demanded the death penalty for the murderer of their son, who had always wanted to become a doctor and had worked very hard.
Civil Lines police registered an FIR against Mohit on Monday night on charges of murder, following a complaint lodged by the deceased’s father, Mahinder Mittal. Mittal alleged in the FIR that his son had called him on Sunday evening to inform him about Mohit’s visit and that he was to stay overnight at his PG, “We never suspected anything until we were informed about Kamaldeep’s body being recovered from his room,” he said.
Confirming the developments, Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said that a team led by SPs Palwinder Cheema and Gurbans Bains, along with CIA in-charge Pardeep Bajwa, cracked the case within two days.
“Just before the murder, the two watched a cricket match at an IPL event at the Polo Ground and then watched a movie in the victim’s room. Later, the accused used a knife to brutally attack Kamaldeep multiple times until the knife handle got separated. He even used the handle to stab his own friend,” said the SSP.
“The two had invested lakhs in the share market and the crime was committed over money. Even after the murder, which took place around 7 am, the accused withdrew money using the victim’s ATM card,” he added.
