Ex-colleague, her associate arrested for killing Delhi man

A 31-year-old man, who went missing after leaving a restaurant in southeast Delhi to meet his former colleague, was allegedly murdered and his body dumped in a drain in Gurugram, police said on Thursday.

The Delhi Police arrested the former colleague, Anya Vats, and her associate Sanyam Sachdeva in connection with the murder of Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, a resident of Sarita Vihar, they said.

According to the police, Yuvraj’s sister lodged a missing-person complaint at Lajpat Nagar police station on September 11, five days after he was last seen.

On September 6, Yuvraj had gone shopping with his sister at Central Market, Lajpat Nagar, and later visited Golden Dragon Restaurant in Lajpat Nagar-II. Around 4 pm, he left the restaurant saying he had a meeting in Gurugram and would return home by around 10 pm, police said.

When he failed to return and his mobile phone was found switched off, his family tried to trace him, following which a case under Section 140(3) of the BNS was registered, they said.

During the investigation, it was found that Yuvraj had a last phone call with Vats, his former office colleague, and had told his family that he was going to Gurugram to meet her, police said.

Both their phones were subsequently switched off, prompting police to analyse CCTV footage, technical data and conduct enquiries at the offices of Yuvraj and the suspect.

Vats subsequently emerged as a prime suspect and surveillance was mounted on her. Police detected a new mobile number being used by her and its analysis indicated her presence in Uttarakhand, they said.

A police team was sent to Uttarakhand, where Vats and Sachdeva were traced and apprehended.

During interrogation, the two allegedly disclosed that they had murdered Yuvraj and disposed of his body in a drain near their house in Gurugram, police said.

On September 10, an unidentified body had been recovered from a drain within the jurisdiction of Badshahpur police station in Gurugram.

Photographs of the body were obtained and shown to Yuvraj’s family members, who identified it as him. The identification was also supported by the clothes and physical description visible in the photographs, police said.

Both accused were arrested and produced before a court, which granted them a five-day police custody remand.

Further investigation is underway to establish the complete sequence of events and collect technical and forensic evidence, police said.