A dispute over a ₹ 1,000 fare took a deadly turn inside a van in Delhi, with a driver allegedly beating a passenger to death with bricks and an earthen-pot-like object before dumping his body on a roadside, police said on Saturday.
Rajinder allegedly assaulted the passenger with bricks and an earthen-pot-like object, causing fatal injuries. With the victim’s identity unknown and no eyewitnesses found, police examined CCTV footage from cameras around the crime scene and along roads leading to and from the area. The accused, Rajinder Kumar alias Annu, 59, told police that he had picked up the deceased from IFFCO Chowk in Gurugram, Haryana, in his van on August 17, an officer said, according to a PTI report. After the killing, he allegedly called his wife, Kamini Makhija, 50, and son, Laksh Makhija, 28, to help hide the body, police said. “Teams analysed around 500 CCTV recordings and noticed a Maruti Eeco moving suspiciously in the vicinity around the relevant time.
During the journey, the passenger allegedly refused to pay the fare, leading to a quarrel inside the vehicle in West Delhi, police said. The registration number was not initially clear, prompting police to track the vehicle through multiple cameras and reconstruct its route before and after the incident,” the officer said.
“Investigators also noticed a distinctive heart-shaped tattoo with an arrow on the victim’s left forearm, bearing the names ‘Anand’ and ‘Renu’, which became an initial clue in establishing his identity,” a senior police officer said.
