By IANS,
New Delhi : Four people were arrested for the murder of an employee of a petrol station, who was a Kargil war veteran and was on his way to deposit the day’s collection at a bank in Delhi, police said Friday.
Rakesh Kumar, 29, the key accused in the case, allegedly conspired with three other men to conduct the robbery after he failed to repay a bank loan, which he had taken to buy a car.
He allegedly murdered Baldev Singh, a Kargil war veteran and the caretaker of a petrol pump in Yamuna Vihar, and looted him of Rs. 8.5 lakh with the help of his three accomplices.
Singh was on his way to the bank on foot June 15 when he was shot dead by four people. The bank is located barely 50 metres from the privately-owned petrol station.
“The accused was depressed over not being able to pay back the loan and had even planned to commit suicide,” Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal told reporters.
Dadwal said Rakesh, who also has an account in the same branch of the Syndicate Bank, then allegedly planned the robbery with Harish Gupta, Vinay Bhargava, and Basant Kumar.
Rakesh knew that collections from the petrol station were taken to bank every Monday, Dadwal added.
“After an extensive investigation, we got a tip off and arrested the four from Karbala area in Lodhi Colony last night (Thursday) when they were planning to rob another petrol pump at Aurbindo Marg,” Dadwal said.
The police claimed to have recovered from the accused Rs.5 lakh and four .315 bore pistols, eight live cartridges and two motorcycles used in the crime.
According to police, Basant Kumar alias Kalwa had a previous criminal record and had been involved in a double murder case in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, in 1998. Vinay Bhargava is a dance teacher and Harish Gupta owns a small garments factory in Gandhi Nagar area.