Crime of passion staged as accident in UP; autopsy blows lid off businessman’s murder

LUCKNOW: More than three weeks ago, a businessman’s body was extricated from a mangled car that had crashed into a truck well past midnight on Punthar highway (near NH 28) in Ambedkarnagar district. Businessman Sanjay Verma was found slouched on the driving seat with his skull cracked and jammed into the steering wheel.
What was initially touted as an open-and-shut case of death by accident due to drunken driving turned out to be a crime of passion with the arrest of two persons on Saturday.
The accused, Praveen Patel and Ajit Kumar Verma, who engineered the murder on November 1 by staging an accident on a busy highway were exposed by the autopsy report that pointed to death by strangulation. And the murder plot was hammered out by Patel to avenge his wife’s alleged extramarital affair with the businessman, who was a common friend.
Superintendent of police, Ambedkarnagar, Alok Priyadarshi, said Patel suspected his wife of having a relationship with his friend, Sanjay, and planned to eliminate him with his aide, Ajit Verma.
On October 31, Patel invited Sanjay Verma to a party at his house. After a drunken binge, his aide Ajit strangled a sozzled Sanjay with a rope, dumped him in a car and drove towards Punthar highway in Tanda police limits. After sometime, Sanjay was placed on the driving seat and the duo pushed on the accelerator to generate speed. As the car zoomed towards a stranded truck, Patel and his aide flung open the side doors and jumped out before the vehicle crashed with a big bang.
Police reached the spot and identified the body of the businessman and sent it for post-mortem examination. The autopsy revealed asphyxia due to strangulation as cause of death, which was improbable in an accident. Police activated their surveillance mechanism and zeroed in on Praveen and Ajit from their last location.
During interrogation, the duo confessed to their crime. Praveen told police that Sanjay would frequent his home in his absence and kept in touch with wife on phone and this forced him to commit murder.