Moradabad painter’s murder: Encounter exposes love affair plot, two arrested
The accused have been identified as Manoj, a resident of Badaun, and his cousin Manjeet, a resident of Moradabad’s Majhola area
In a late-night encounter, Moradabad police arrested two men accused of murdering a 22-year-old painter. The gunfight, which took place around 10 pm on Sunday, in the Pakbada police station area, left the prime accused injured.
Additional superintendent of police, Subhash Chandra Gangwar, said that during a patrol in the Pakbada area, two suspects opened fire on the police team. “The police retaliated, injuring one of them. His associate, who tried to escape, was also caught,” he told reporters.
The accused have been identified as Manoj, a resident of Badaun, and his cousin Manjeet, a resident of Moradabad’s Majhola area. Manoj, who sustained the injury, is the main accused in the murder of painter Yogesh.
On September 18, 22-year-old Yogesh, a painter from Guraitha village, under the Pakbada police station, was found dead by the roadside near Moda Teiyya cemetery, on the Agwanpur bypass. His body bore deep head and facial injuries, and beer cans were discovered nearby.
Yogesh had left home on his bicycle around 5 pm but had never returned. His family searched through the night, only to discover his body the next morning.
The murder first came to light when police control room Dial-112 received a chilling call from Yogesh’s phone. The caller identified himself as Yogesh, claimed he was being beaten by three men, and pleaded for help before the call abruptly disconnected.
Investigations later revealed that Yogesh had already been murdered, and the killers themselves had made the call from his phone in a bid to mislead police.
Police investigations uncovered that Manoj, the prime accused, was in a relationship with a young woman from Yogesh’s village. Her father and brother opposed the relationship, which Manoj believed was the only hurdle in his plan to marry her. Yogesh was a frequent visitor to the household.
Manoj conspired with his cousin Manjeet to murder Yogesh, and then implicate the girl’s father and brother. After killing Yogesh, they made the fake distress call from his phone, telling the police that the girl’s father and brother were beating him up. Based on this, the girlfriend’s father and brother were initially named in the FIR.
However, subsequent investigations found them at home with no link to the murder. Police then shifted their focus, digging deeper into the case.
Ironically, the same call that was meant to frame innocents eventually exposed the real killers. Police retrieved the call records and found that the caller’s voice did not match Yogesh’s. This critical clue confirmed that someone else had used his number.
Following this lead, investigators tracked Manoj and Manjeet, who had been absconding. Their run ended on Sunday night in the Pakbada encounter. While Manoj was shot and injured, both were taken into custody.
