Gurugram hotel murder: Rohtak resident held for supplying weapon to prime accused

Gurugram, Jan 13 (IANS) The Gurugram Police on Saturday arrested one more person in connection with the murder of Divya Pahuja, a former Gurugram-based model and girlfriend of slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli, for allegedly supplying the weapon which was used by the prime accused to kill the 27-year-old woman at a hotel here.

The arrested individual has been identified as Parvesh, 37, a resident of Rohtak.

Divya was allegedly shot dead on January 2 by Abhijeet Singh, the owner of Hotel City Point, where she was staying.

According to the police, Divya and Abhijeet were in a relationship and the latter killed the woman in a fit of rage after she refused to delete some of his objectionable photos from her mobile phone.

Talking about the latest arrest in the case, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya told mediapersons: “The accused (Parvesh) was a driver and PSO of Abhijeet Singh. During questioning, Parvesh disclosed that he was fond of keeping weapons and he had given three pistols and some live cartridges to Abhijeet in this case. One pistol and two live cartridges were recovered Parvesh’s possession, while two pistols and 40 live cartridges were recovered from Delhi. Around six cases have already been registered against Parvesh for crimes like attempt to murder, robbery and Arms Act.”

The police are, however, yet to recover the ‘murder weapon’ which was reportedly thrown away by Abhijeet after killing Divya.

Abhijeet’s accomplice, Balraj Gill, who was arrested in West Bengal on January 11, meanwhile, revealed during transit remand that he and the prime accused were friends during college and used to study together in Hisar.

“After killing Divya, Abhijeet had contacted Balraj and Ravi Banga and probably gave over Rs 12 lakh and a BMW car to dispose of Divya’s body. Both left Gurugram on the night of January 2 with the woman’s body in the boot of the BMW car and during the early hours of January 3, they threw the body in the Bhakra Canal in Patiala and parked the BMW car at Patiala bus stand along with over Rs 12 lakh (in cash) which was recovered by the police team,” Dahiya said.

To evade arrest, Balraj and Ravi went to Bhiwani, Jaipur, and Udaipur in a taxi, and from there, they took a bus to Kanpur from where they went to Kolkata by train.

Balraj and Ravi then parted their ways after reaching Kolkata. Later, Balraj was arrested from Kolkata airport on January 11.

Meanwhile, Divya’s body, which has been recovered, was identified by her family. The postmortem would be conducted soon, the police said, adding the body would then be brought to Gurugram and handed over to Divya’s family.

Balraj Gill, an advocate by profession, was a close friend of Abhijeet while Amit Banga was his domestic aide.

Five teams of Gurugram Police were involved in tracking Balraj and Amit who had absconded along with Divya’s body since January 2.

One team was look for the Divya’s lifeless body with the help of Punjab Police, local divers, 25 teams of NDRF, and SDRF.

“The police teams scanned around 150 km of Bakhra canal to search the body,” ACP Dahiya said.

Divya’s body was identified by a tattoo on her back.

Also, a clue regarding the whereabouts of the body was received after the arrest of Balraj Gill.

In connection with Divya’s murder, the police have so far arrested six persons including the prime accused, Abhijeet Singh, his aides Om Prakash, Hemraj, Balraj Gill, Parvesh, and a woman, Megha.

The woman had helped Abhijeet in hiding, throwing away the murder weapon, documents, and personal belongings of Divya.

Om Prakash and Hemraj had helped Abhijeet to drag Divya’s body into the boot of a BMW car.

Later, Balraj and Ravi fled with the body. Megha told the police that when she reached the hotel on January 2, she noticed Divya’s body.

Abhijeet then asked her to dispose of the belongings of the deceased woman, but she was too scared to follow his instructions.

During questioning, Abhijeet told the police that Divya used to blackmail him and also extorted money.

Divya came in contact with Abhijeet through a jailed gangster, Binder Gujjar.

Binder Gujjar is said to be the prime conspirator in the alleged “fake encounter” of gangster Sandeep Gadoli, along with the Gurugram Police, which took place in Mumbai in 2016.

Divya was the prime accused in the case.

Later, she was arrested in connection with the gangster’s murder, and she spent seven years in jail.

She was granted bail last year in June by the Bombay High Court.

Divya’s family has alleged that her murder was conspired by Sandeep Gadoli’s family members, along with Abhijeet.

–IANS

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