Four held in outer Delhi for killing insurance agent

Four men were arrested for allegedly abducting and killing an insurance agent after calling him to Noida on the pretext of buying a policy from him, the police said on Thursday.

The accused -- Vinod Kumar, Sandeep, Monu Sharma and Sunny -- were nabbed from Nangloi in outer Delhi and its adjoining area in connection with the killing of Deepak Dua. They were previously involved in honey-trap incidents, the police said.

The accused had called Dua to Noida on January 6. They abducted the insurance agent and tried to extort Rs 25 lakhs from him. The accused, who were debt-ridden, strangled Dua after failing to get money from him and dumped his body in a canal near Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, according to police.

A case was registered after the relatives of Dua filed his missing complaint and expressed apprehension that he might have been abducted, said B K Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime).

On January 17, the UP police informed the local police here that they recovered the body of the victim from a canal, he said.

Using technical surveillance, the police team first zeroed in on Sharma and managed to nab all the four accused, he added.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that all of them were debt-ridden as they had suffered losses in betting in cricket matches. Vinod informed his associates about Dua's wealth and hatched conspiracy with them to kidnap him and extort money to pay back their debts, the officer said.

Using fake documents, they procured two SIM cards from Kosi Kalan, UP and contacted Dua to purchase an insurance policy, he said.

On January 4, the accused called Dua to come at Nangloi Metro station so that they can avail the policy and then took him to Dariyapur. They, however, could not execute their plan. Two days later, they again called him at Noida Metro station, he added.

Vinod met him at the station and took him in a car in which four other accused persons were already seated. He held him hostage in the car and demanded Rs 25 lakh from him, the officer said.

However, Dua denied having cash and told them that they could take Rs 30,000 using his ATM card. The offer did not go down well with the accused who killed him, the ACP said.