Ghaziabad: Call that did not end on victim’s phone leads police to his killer

An eight-minute recording of a call that was accidentally left continuing on the mobile phone of a 25-year-old man murdered on the night of May 27 led the Ghaziabad police to his alleged killer, senior police officers said on Wednesday, adding that the man’s body was found dumped on an isolated road near Garhi Sablu in Loni.

The police identified the suspect as Rohit Sharma, a resident of Diamond City in Loni, and the deceased as Raju Sharma, a resident of nearby Ashok Vihar.

According to police, Raju and his friend Sandeep Kumar, both residents of Ashok Vihar, had gone near Diamond City on their motorcycle to take bath in a pond around 9pm on May 27.

“While they were seated near the pond, a woman (aged about 45 years) arrived there and sought their help saying she was being beaten up by her husband, Rohit Sharma. The two friends intervened and helped save the woman. This intervention infuriated Rohit. After some time, Sandeep went home on his motorcycle while Raju decided to walk home,” said Vivek Chandra Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (rural).

The police said while Raju was walking home, Rohit accosted him with a hammer and hit him on the head multiple times killing him.

“He dumped the body on an isolated road Garhi Sablu in Loni and went home. He also took the mobile phone of the victim with him. The body of the victim was discovered by locals on May 28 and he was later identified by police as Raju Sharma. An FIR was registered and during investigation, the police nabbed the suspect after his role became clear on listening to a call recording,” the DCP said.

The investigators said while near the pond, Sandeep’s mobile battery got drained and he used Raju’s phone to speak to his girlfriend.

“The call was not cut when Sandeep returned the phone to Raju. Sandeep’s girlfriend also forgot to disconnect the call. After some time, she noticed the call was live when she heard someone crying in pain and also shouting. She immediately turned on call recording, and it lasted about eight minutes,” said a police investigator attached to the case, asking not to be named.

The investigators said when Rohit took away Raju’s phone, this call, and recording, was still on.

“The suspect reached his house and started threatening his wife again. He also told her how he had murdered Raju. This conversation got recorded. Thereafter, the suspect pulled out the SIM card. On May 28, after Raju’s body was discovered, Sandeep’s girlfriend came forward to help police. She gave us the call recording. It is a vital piece of evidence against the suspect,” the investigator said.

The police teams nabbed the suspect from Diamond City on Wednesday afternoon and also recovered victim’s mobile phone and the hammer used in the crime.