Property dealer’s body found in drain; 2 cops suspended for negligence

Agra: The body of a 35-year-old property dealer, who was also associated with a YouTube news channel, was recovered from a drain in the Sahpau police station area of Hathras district, with police registering a murder case against two of his neighbours and suspending two officers for alleged negligence in the matter.The deceased, Vedprakash Sharma alias Sonu, was a resident of Delhiwala mohalla. His sister Neetu Sharma, in her complaint, alleged that two neighbours—Kamal Sharma and Gaurav Kumar alias Kullo Pehelwan—had been pressing Vedprakash for the past fifteen days to sell his house to them. When he refused, she alleged, they killed him on the night of April 6. A case has been registered against both under Section 103 (murder) of the BNS.Neetu further alleged that the two accused had assaulted her brother roughly two years ago, too, as part of an attempt to take over his property, and that cases involving illegal extortion and forcible occupation of properties had been registered against them previously.Hathras SP Chiranjeev Nath Sinha confirmed that the two sides had an ongoing dispute and that the body had been sent for post-mortem, with the report awaited. He suspended the local outpost in-charge and a beat constable for alleged negligence and ordered a departmental inquiry against them. On Wed, local journalists also called on the SP, demanding immediate arrest of the accused.(Input by Sumit Sharma)