Ghaziabad Dairy Owner Murder: Body Found in Mathura Canal After 15 Days
Fifteen days after a dairy farm owner was murdered in Ghaziabad, his body was discovered in Mathura, nearly 190 kilometers away. The victim, Omkar, was cremated on Sunday, two weeks after being shot multiple times in Loni. The accused had thrown his body into a canal in Baghpat, but it was recovered from the Maant area of Mathura. Police have arrested more than 20 individuals, including five key accused.
Mathura police officials reported that Omkar's body was retrieved on June 5 from the Ganga Canal under the jurisdiction of the Maant police station. The body was decomposed, and the cause of death was determined to be drowning. After 72 hours, Omkar's DNA was preserved, and the police conducted the cremation of the body.
The family identified Omkar through photographs and his belongings. His brother, Surendra, stated that Omkar had a broken leg from a few years ago and injury marks on his head. “On the basis of these things, we identified him. We conducted cremation of his remains in Mathura today,” Surendra told TOI. “I wanted all the accused to be killed in an encounter ... the court will take time to mete out justice. They killed my brother brutally,” he added.
Circle officer Sandeep Kumar Singh explained, “On the morning of June 5, some locals spotted the body and we recovered it. When nobody came to claim the body, we circulated his photos and information on social media and nearby districts. A few days ago, we learnt that Ghaziabad police are looking for a body and then we sent the details along with photographs. The man was identified as Omkar, a dairy firm owner in Loni, by his family members.”
DCP (rural) Surendra Nath Tiwari provided further details: “On May 30, after Omkar received more than five bullet wounds and fell on the road, the accused put him in the boot of the car. The accused went to Baghpat and near the Pithkhas bridge, went 500-600 metres towards the jungle along the canal bank and took out his body from the boot and threw it into the canal. We established coordination with the district crime records bureau (DCRB) of various districts and the mortuaries. Detailed information was gathered about all the unidentified persons/bodies found from May 30 till now. After getting information about more than 25 bodies, on Saturday evening, we got information about bodies with matching details with Omkar.”
On May 30, at 6:50 am, Omkar was going from Ganauli to Loni to fetch dry fodder for buffaloes when he was attacked by Gaurav, Saurabh alias Bhola, Gopal, Gaurav (second), Mohit, all residents of Ganauli, and several other persons near the Khadkhadi railway underpass. After the murder, police announced a Rs 50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of each key accused. All the accused were arrested, along with more than 20 people who provided them shelter.
“On June 5, Ghaziabad Police arrested Mohit and took his six days' custody. On June 7, Gaurav, another accused, was arrested after a brief gunfight with police, during which he suffered a bullet injury to his leg. On Friday, Delhi Police arrested two key accused, Saurabh and Gopal. On Saturday, Gaurav Nagar was arrested by Ghaziabad police after a gunfight in Loni. More than 20 people were arrested in the case, who gave shelter to these five accused,” the DCP said.
“Mohit revealed that Saurabh and Devansh (Omkar's son) had a quarrel and a panchayat of the said quarrel was held at Vicky's house on May 29. In the panchayat, Omkar had insulted and assaulted Saurabh and Saurabh's father Vijender. Omkar and his son also slapped Saurabh and his father. To take revenge for the insult, Saurabh planned to kill Omkar. On May 30 night, all accused went out of the village in Saurabh's Swift car and Saurabh brought a pistol and a country-made pistol in the car. All the accused reached the liquor shop at Tila village via Jawli village by car and, after taking liquor, stayed at night in the fields outside the village,” Tiwari said.
“The accused had the information that, as on every day, Omkar would go in the morning to take fodder for the animals. Around 6:30 am, the accused saw Omkar coming on a bike, and they chased him by car and stopped him under the Nithora underpass where the accused opened fire,” he added.
