Property dealer's death: Faridabad police drop murder charge against ACP's son, 3 others

Faridabad, Sep 25 (PTI) The Faridabad police has dropped the murder charge in the case concerning the death of a property dealer, which involved the son of an assistant commissioner of police. Instead, the charge of culpable homicide has been reinstated, officials said on Thursday.

The deceased, identified as Kumar, 45, a resident of Lane No. 2, Nangla Enclave Part 2, Sector 12 here, was allegedly crushed by the ACP's Thar SUV in Sector 12.

Initially, the police registered the case under the charge of culpable homicide, but later added the murder charge following demands from the deceased's family. Now, police have reverted to the original charge, a senior police official stated.

In the report submitted to the court, the police filed charges under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 3(5) (common intention), and 54 (abettor present when offence is committed) of the BNS. However, Section 103(1) (murder) of the BNS was not mentioned, they added.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) team, investigating the case, seized the Thar on Tuesday and detained four youths identified as Himanshu Lohan, Nishant, Keshav Chaudhary, and another individual who was released after questioning.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Himanshu, son of ACP Sarai Rajesh Lohan, was driving the SUV. Nishant was in the front passenger seat, while Keshav was in the rear seat. The fourth youth was not in the vehicle during the incident.

The accused, Himanshu and Nishant, are LLB graduates, while Keshav is pursuing a PhD. All three were sent into judicial custody after being produced in a city court on Wednesday, an investigating officer said.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday when a Thar driver struck Manoj Kumar. His friends rushed him to a nearby private hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

An FIR was registered at the Central Police Station, Faridabad, under the charge of culpable homicide. Following protests from the family demanding the arrest of the accused, the murder charge was also added to the FIR.

A senior investigating officer from the SIT stated that the case appeared to be a sudden accident and was registered under culpable homicide. The murder charge was added due to pressure from the deceased's family, but the investigation did not substantiate this charge.

According to the complaint filed by Vicky Kumar, brother of the deceased, Manoj had gone to Vrindavan along with his friends Anil Rana, Pravesh, Rahul, Aman, Shivam and Navdeep on Sunday. Around 1 am on Monday, they reached Pravesh's office in Sector 9, from where Mandeep and Aman took their bikes and went to Dharma Dhaba in Sector 12 to have food. When they reached a cut in Sector 12, the Thar driver attempted to hit them. This led to a confrontation between the two friends and the occupants of the Thar, who began to abuse them, Vicky's complaint claims. The individuals in the Thar tried to ram their vehicle from behind and subsequently threatened to kill the two men before fleeing the scene, he added. "When Aman and Mandeep didn't return with food for a long time, my brother Manoj and his friends drove to Sector 12's Dharma Dhaba in search of them. They explained the entire story. "Manoj drove to Town Park with his friends to try to convince the Thar riders. The driver was performing stunts near Ozone Park. Manoj got out of his vehicle and tried to stop the Thar, but the driver ran him over and fled," Vicky said in his complaint. PTI COR MPL MPL