Friend strangulates 22-year-old for not repaying debt

JAIPUR: A 22-year-old B Pharm student of a city college was allegedly strangulated to death by his friend at the latter’s room in Malviya Nagar on Monday. The accused, who was arrested, tied his legs and beat him up before smothering him, said police.
The victim, Abhilash Thakur, a second year B Pharm student of Seedling College and a resident of Darbhanga in Bihar, was staying in the college hostel.He had frequent fights with his friend Narottam Kumar, pursuing BCA from the same college, over returning Rs 1,200 which he had borrowed from Narottam, said police.
“Narottam, a resident of Palwal in Haryana, used to live in the hostel. However, recently he shifted to a rented accommodation near Apex Hospital in Malviya Nagar. He was not attending classes in the college for the past two months,” said circle officer, Sanganer, Pradeep Rinwa.
According to the officer, Abhilash did not come to the hostel for two days and when his friends called him on his mobile, he first told them that he was injured and then said he had gone to meet his cousin who lives in the city.
Meanwhile, Abhilash allegedly had a fight with Narottam on Sunday. Narottam hit him with a bat. Despite that, Abhilash stayed with him in his room and they both consumed alcohol on Monday evening, said Rinwa.
After consuming alcohol, they once again got into a fight following which Narottam allegedly tied his legs and strangulated him to death with a plastic rope. It happened around 9.30 pm.
After the murder, Narottam went to his maternal uncle’s house in the neighbourhood and tried to sleep. He later told police that he could not sleep as the body was lying in the bathroom of his room. “Around 3 am, he returned to the room and again tied the accused’s legs with the rope,” said Rinwa.
On Tuesday morning, Narottam called Abhilash’s mother and asked her to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh in her son’s account.