Delhi violence: Four men arrested for killing and dumping bodies in drains

Four men have been arrested for allegedly killing four other persons and dumping their bodies in drains during the communal violence in northeast Delhi's Gokalpuri area last month, police said on Thursday.

The accused were identified as Pankaj Sharma, Lokesh, Sumit and Ankit, they said.

Four bodies were fished out of Bhagirathi Vihar and Johripur drains by the Delhi police on February 27, they said.

According to police, on February 23 as the situation turned tensed in the area, brothers Amir Ali (31) and Hashim (19) went to their maternal home for safety. After two days, their father Babu Khan, a tailor, asked them to return as the situation had apparently become normal.

Both Amir and Hashim reached Gokalpuri area at about 9.30 PM on a motorcycle and asked their brother Sheruddin to come out in the lane, as they were terrified. But they never reached their home.

On February 28, when the family reached Gokalpuri police station, they learnt that Amir and Hashim were killed and their bodies and burnt motorcycle thrown into the Bhagirathi Vihar drain by rioters.

In another case, on February 25, Musharraf was dragged out of his second floor house in front of his wife and children by rioters. He was beaten to death and his body thrown in the Bhagirathi Vihar drain.

The body was identified by his wife Malika. They have three minor children and lived in a rented house, a senior police officer said.

In another case, Aqil Ahmed, a car mechanic by profession, left his house at Loni in Ghaziabad to meet his brother-in-law at New Mustafabad but he never reached there, the officer said.

When his wife Zahira could not contact him over the phone, she along with her husband's relative came to Delhi where, with the help of police, she identified her husband's body at the GTB mortuary, he said.

Ahmed is survived by his wife and four children, he added.

The four cases have been sent by the police to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for compensation.