Three held for killing Delhi taxi driver

Three people have been arrested for killing a taxi driver here to loot his vehicle, police said on Wednesday.

Police arrested Ataull Rehman, 25, Namanuddin, 22 -- both residents of Assam -- and Manish Shukla, 18, within 48 hours of the crime being committed from their hideouts in west Delhi on Tuesday.

Rehman, the kingpin, was serving life imprisonment in a kidnapping-cum-ransom case in Gujarat but he jumped parole.

"All the accused have poor economic background and are school dropouts," Deputy Commissioner of Police R.A. Sanjeev said.

The trio wanted money for running a betting racket and make big bucks in a short time, so they conspired to get a vehicle for committing major crimes, Sanjeev said.

The officer said the trio had hired a taxi from Mahipalpur to go to Lajpat Nagar on the intervening night of July 5-6 and on the way they strangled the driver.

The incident came to light after the police found the body of the victim, later identified as Vinay Kumar, 27, from Sector-6 in Dwarka.