Bizman got himself killed so family could get ₹1cr insurance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:16.06.2020

The investigation into the murder of a businessman has revealed that he had allegedly hired killers so that his family could get the benefits of his life insurance worth Rs 1 crore.

Police claimed that Gaurav Bansal, 40, a resident of east Delhi’s IP Extension, wanted to commit suicide, but couldn’t muster the courage to do so. He then planned his own murder and allegedly hired four killers, including a juvenile, after meeting them at Karkardooma village.

Three of the accused — identified by police as Manoj Yadav (21), a vegetable vendor, Suraj (18), a student, and Sumit (26), a tailor — have been arrested, according to DCP (Outer) A Koan.

The juvenile was tracked down from Bansal’s call records and social media profile, the DCP told TOI. It was found that he had got in touch with the juvenile on Facebook through a kin’s profile.

The accused told police that they initially planned to shoot him, but an arms dealer refused to sell a pistol to the juvenile. Bansal then bought them a rope to hang him. He allegedly convinced them that they were doing him and his family a favour and paid Rs 90,000 to them.

On the day of the crime, Bansal travelled to Mohan Garden to meet the juvenile and chose the spot where he would be killed.

In debt and out of cash, bizman was depressed

He asked them to tie his hands and keep his Aadhaar card near his body so that police could identify him easily. After the murder, the killers went back to Mohan Garden and diverted his phone to his brother-in-law’s number. They even called from another number to check whether it was active.

Bansal’s body was found hanging from a tree in outer Delhi’s Ranhola on June 10. Family members said that he went to his shop in Karkardooma on June 9, but didn’t return home. Later, they lodged a missing complaint at Anand Vihar police station.

A murder was reported around 8.30am on June 10 at Ranhola. The local police station received a call about a body hanging from a tree near a lake in Baprola. The body was identified by Bansal’s family.

Earlier, TOI had reported that Bansal could have been killed by at least two people who staged the murder as suicide by hanging the body from the tree. Later, police found that the hands were tied with a rope, an unusual act in case of suicide.

The preliminary investigation indicated a financial angle behind the murder as Bansal had been suffering heavy losses in his business for a few months. It was found that he had borrowed large sums from local moneylenders and couldn’t pay them due to the high interest rate. He started a business with his brother-in-law, but it didn’t do well either. He had recently opened a grocery store. Bansal’s wife is an LIC agent. Even he himself used to sell LIC policy apart from running a grocery store.

The businessman was reportedly in depression after fraudulent transactions worth Rs 3.5 lakh were made on his credit card. He had lodged a complaint with police regarding this. He had also undergone treatment for depression.

The preliminary investigation indicated a financial angle behind the murder as Bansal had been suffering heavy losses in his business for a few months