Young iPhone dealer murdered in Kota, 3 accused arrested

Kota (Rajasthan), Aug 17 (PTI) Kota police on Tuesday morning arrested three youths for allegedly murdering a mobile phone dealer in an attempt to steal phones from him and later burnt his body and car to erase evidence.

The deceased identified as Nikhil Takewani (24), a resident of Sindhi Colony under Kishorepura police station, had gone missing on August 13 from his house following which his father lodged a missing report.

The burnt body of a youth, who was later identified by his family members as Takewani, was recovered from the forests of Dadhdevi temple in Anantpura police station area of the city on Monday evening and at the same time from the same forests in Udhyog Nagar police station, a burnt luxury car belonging to the deceased youth was also seized, ASP, Kota City, Praveen Jain told media persons here on Tuesday.

Kota City SP Vikas Pathak had formed five separate police teams to trace the missing youth.

The deceased youth was an Apple iPhone business dealer wearing a gold chain and several rings, kept at least 4-5 mobile phones with him at a time and would generally make delivery in person when given a call, the police said.

He was last seen with Ayush Meena (21), a resident of Digod village of the district, and was under police vigilance since the day the missing report was lodged, ASP Jain said, adding that police detained Ayush on Tuesday morning.

Upon strict interrogation, Ayush admitted to have committed the crime for loot and named two other youths, identified as Ajay Choudhary (25) of Kota city and Mahesh Meena (21) of Bhilwara district, involved with him in the crime, he said.

The three accused called Takewani to buy mobile phones last Friday night and strangled him to death.

They robbed cash in his pocket, a gold chain, two gold rings, 4-5 mobile sets and later in order to cover the identity, they burnt his body and dumped it in the forests, DSP and CO of the area, Ankit Jain said, adding that the accused also burnt the car and abandoned it around 4-5 kilometers away in the same forest under Udhyog Nagar police station.

Valuables and cash worth approximately Rs 5 lakh were robbed of the deceased youth before he was strangled to death and the body was burnt, he added.

The three accused were booked under Sections 302, 201, 364, 435, 379 of IPC and further investigation into the matter is underway, he said.

Meanwhile, the family members accompanied by a large number of people from the community to which Takewani belonged to on Tuesday morning marched to close the markets in Gumanpura area of the city and reached outside the mortuary in MBS Hospital.

At the hospital, they raised slogans against inaction by police on a missing complaint that allegedly led to the brutal killing of the youth.

Besides senior police officials, local BJP MLA Sandeep Sharma also reached the spot.

However, the police handed over the body to family members after a post-mortem by a medical board later in the day.

"It raises a question mark on how the body of the youth could not be traced for four days despite a missing report filed immediately after. But unfortunately, the decomposed burnt body with worms creeping on it was recovered from the forests on Monday evening," said MLA Sharma, adding that murder left the people in Kota stunned and sacred.

Mobile phone shops in Gumanpura and Ghodewalebaba area remained closed for around three hours as a mark of protest against the incident. PTI COR HDA