New Delhi, June 10: A fortnight after the murder of 26-year-old MBA student Anand Tewari, Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested a former student of a
management institute for allegedly bludgeoning the victim to death. Accused Rahul Chaddha (28) was detained on Monday night for his alleged involvement in the May 25 murder. Chaddha’s friends Arjun Acharya (27) and Arun Raghav (26), also suspects in the case, are absconding.
Police said Chaddha was upset about Tewari’s growing proximity with his former girlfriend. Tewari and the girl, along with others, were scheduled to leave for a student exchange programme to Switzerland on May 27. Chaddha came to know of it and allegedly decided to get rid of Tewari. He hatched the plan with his two friends, also from Ghaziabad like him.
THE MURDER
On May 25, Acharya, who knew the girl as he worked in her father’s factory in Ghaziabad, called Tewari, congratulating him about the Switzerland trip. “Acharya, a class X dropout, treated the girl like a sister and was unhappy about her friendship with Tewari. He wanted Chaddha to be with her. So he called Tewari to PVR Saket around 7pm. The two then went to a pub to drink,” said DCP (south) HGS Dhaliwal.
“Both had come on their bikes and after few rounds of drinks, Acharya asked Tewari to join him at the Qutab Institutional Area for more drinks. All this while, Chaddha and his friend Raghav were waiting in a WagonR at PVR Saket without Tewari’s knowledge,” said a senior police officer.
The two followed Tewari’s bike, with Acharya riding pillion. “Acharya and Tewari had another rounds of drinks at a dhaba after parking the bike near Sanjay Van. Acharya then asked Tewari to accompany him for a walk inside Sanjay Van,” said DCP Dhaliwal. Chaddha and Raghav, meanwhile, kept following them, waiting for the right time to strike.
While the two were walking inside Sanjay Van, the girl called Tewari on his mobile phone. “As a slightly intoxicated Tewari spoke to the girl, Acharya took out a rod and hit Tewari on the head from the back. As Tewari collapsed, Acharya picked up a heavy stone and crushed his head,” said a police officer.
THE ESCAPE
Chaddha and Raghav, who by then had arrived on the scene, allegedly picked up stones and hit Tewari repeatedly on the head to ensure he was dead. The trio picked up the mobile phone on which Tewari was talking, while another mobile phone was left behind by them. The three got into Chaddha’s car and went to PVR Saket where Raghav rode Acharya’s bike while Chaddha and Acharya went in the former’s car to Ghaziabad.
Police said as the murder came to light, all three accused fled from their homes. “We found technical evidence including mobile location of the three at the murder spot and later at PVR Saket. We have sought three days’ police remand of the accused in order to apprehend Acharya and Raghav. We also need to recover the blood stained clothes, Tewari’s phone and the rod used to kill the boy,” added a police officer.
Meanwhile, the police have ruled out any involvement of the girl in the crime. “The girl was not aware about the plans and even inquired about Tewari from Acharya as she could not reach him on his phone,” said an official. The police identified Tewari with the help of one of his mobile phones, which was in his pocket.
Incidentally, accused Chaddha passed out from the same institute as Tewari in 2008 but was unable to land a campus placement. He was assisting in his father’s banquet hall business at Ghaziabad.
Acharya and Raghav had been friends with Chaddha for the last four years. Raghav had also studied till class X and was unemployed. Tewari, who hails from Kolkata, was a fourth-semester MBA student at the institute.
—Agencies–