Ghaziabad: Police arrested three people on Wednesday for allegedly stabbing a hardware store owner to death and dumping his body in Mandola forest on Sunday night. The main accused, Bilal (27), was arrested following a gunfight during which he sustained a bullet wound to the leg. Two other accused, Gulzar (24) and Farmaan (28), were later arrested from Tronica City.On Monday, Vinod Gupta (42) was found stabbed to death in Mandola forest. His family reported him missing the same day when he did not return home after leaving his shop on Sunday evening and could not be contacted.Gupta’s son Kartik, the complainant in the case, alleged that Gupta closed his shop and called his wife around 8pm to tell her that he was accompanying Bilal for some work and would return soon. When Gupta never got home, the family confronted Bilal, who was with the other accused. They claimed to have dropped Gupta off near his home in their car.The family noticed cut marks above Bilal’s lip and grew suspicious. When questioned, Bilal allegedly claimed he had a drunken fight with a friend and needed stitches for an injury sustained during the tiff.On Monday morning, the family approached cops with their suspicions, and Gupta’s body was found hours later.ACP (Loni) Ram Kishan said that police teams began an investigation. During checks in the Tronica City area on Wednesday, cops flagged down a speeding motorcycle, but the rider attempted to flee towards Khanpur, with cops giving chase. The accused opened fire and was injured during retaliatory firing before being taken into custody.Police seized a knife, a country-made pistol, one live cartridge, two spent cartridges and a motorcycle from Bilal’s possession during the arrest. He was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.During questioning, the accused identified himself as Bilal and named his brother Gulzar and their cousin Farmaan in the case. The brothers told cops they bought a plot from Gupta around two years ago for Rs 20 lakh, but had only paid around Rs 4 lakh so far. The brothers had since fallen into debt and decided to kill Gupta.They lured Gupta out to the forest by claiming someone was waiting to give them money there, but Gupta grew suspicious and tried to fight back. Bilal sustained the cut above his lip in the scuffle before he stabbed Gupta to death and all three fled the spot, police said.An FIR has been registered against the accused under Section 103 (murder) of the BNS, and they have all been sent to judicial custody after being produced in court.
