Farmers Movement Archive

Labourer thrashed to death on suspicion of stealing cash; suspects nabbed

Two truck drivers on Monday morning beat a 25-year-old man to death, on the suspicion that he stole ₹90,000 cash and mobile phones from them.The police arrested the two men later that day, apprehending them as they tried to flee the city with the victim in their truck. Senior officers aware of the matter said there was no evidence to suggest the victim had stolen anything from the drivers.Police found the victim, Vishal, a labour worker, unconscious in the back of the truck during a routine check at the Singhu Border in north Delhi. He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital later that day.Vijayanta Arya, deputy commissioner of police (north-west), said the allegations that Vishal had stolen their phones and cash was unfounded, and there was no evidence to suggest as much. “He has no criminal past as well,” Arya said.The two truck drivers, Sandeep Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar, have been booked for murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence. DCP Arya said the brothers would make frequent trips from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi to transport apples. They had driven from Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, and sold apples at Azadpur Mandi worth ₹90,000 late on Sunday night, she said. When they were preparing to make their way back, they allegedly realised the cash and their cellphone were missing from the truck.Vishal lived with his parents in a slum in nearby Haiderpur and earned his living by loading and unloading fruits and vegetables at the market. Often, he would spend his nights at the market itself, am investigator who asked not to be identified said.He came under the radar of the two truck drivers around 2am on Monday.Since they found Vishal around near their truck in the market, they suspected him of stealing the cash and allegedly began beating him up.Pintu, a labour worker who lives and works at the mandi, said he woke up around 2.30am to loud noises from outside. “I went out and saw two men beating a labourer up, and accusing him of stealing their cash,” he said.“After thrashing him, the two men tied him up, threw him into their truck and drove away,” Pintu, who goes by a single name, added.The truckers weren’t able to drive very far. In about an hour, they found themselves in a traffic jam at the Singhu Border adjoining Haryana.“The traffic police were checking the trucks and other vehicles for violations. They checked the insides of this truck as well and found an injured man tied up inside an otherwise empty truck,” DCP Arya said.The police untied Vishal and rushed him to Ambedkar Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.The two suspects, meanwhile, were arrested and handed over to Mahendra Park police station.An investigator said the two truckers thought that they would torture him further ahead in Himachal Pradesh in the hope of making him speak up about the location of the allegedly stolen cash.The police, meanwhile, took the two suspects to the Mandi where Pintu identified them as the people who had assaulted Vishal. In the absence of an identity card on Vishal and since hardly anyone at the market knew him, it took the police an entire day of asking around the market, before they could identify him and alert his family.

Hindustan Times

07-08-2020

Delhi