2 Migrant Workers From Bihar Found Dead in a Drain in Delhi, One Arrested

The person arrested, Ateeque, was roommate of the deceased.

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One person was arrested by the Delhi Police on Wednesday, 23 March, in connection with the recovery of the bodies of two migrant workers in a drain near the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi.

The accused is 22-year-old Ateeque, who is the supposed roommate of the victims, and works as a daily wage labourer.

Accordingly, an FIR has been registered at PS Tughlak Road under Section 302 (Murder) and Section 201 (Disappearance of Evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case was entrusted to Inspector Satyender Singh.

The deceased have been identified as Khurshid (31) and Shehzad (34), both from Bihar's Arariya district.

The New Delhi District solved the double murder within 12 hours of recovery of the bodies.

Line of Events that Led to the Discovery of the Bodies

As per a press release by the Delhi Police, a PCR call was received around 6:18 pm on Tuesday, 22 March, at PS Tughlak Road. The caller informed the police about finding two bodies in a drain opposite IIC.

Ashab, a cousin of the deceased, told the police that on Monday, 21 March, his aunt had complained about his cousins, Khurshid and Sajjad, missing for three to four days. Ashab subsequently went to Kotla, where he met Alauddin and Ateeque, roommates of the victims.

When Ashab enquired about his cousins, the two reportedly could not produce a satisfactory answer. Ashab then threatened to inform the police, after which Ateeque led him to the scene of crime. Consequently, both the bodies were recovered from there.

Investigation So Far

The District Crime team, along with experts from the FSL Rohini, were called at the spot of the murder.

CCTV footage from the nearby areas of the crime scene revealed that on 18 March, at about 5:52 pm, three people, the accused along with the deceased, arrived at the spot in an auto-rickshaw.

Two of them entered the drain, during which the third person, Ateeque, waited outside. After about five minutes, Ateeque also entered the drain and returned after a few minutes. He further covered the drain with its lid and fled from the spot.

Ateeque was taken into custody by the police and on interrogation, confessed to the crime. He is being interrogated further.

"The accused who was arrested has been identified as Ateeque, he is 22-24-years-old and belongs to the village as the deceased. The accused was currently living in Mayur Vihar," Deputy Commissioner of Police New Delhi Amrutha Guguloth, told the media.

The postmortem reports of the deceased are awaited.