Uttarakhand: 4 held in double murder of man and woman at Haldwani’s Mandi Market
Haldwani: Four men were arrested in connection with the bodies of a 31-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman found with their heads and faces smashed at Mandi Market in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani on Thursday, police said.
The deceased were identified based on Aadhaar cards recovered from their pockets as Shubham alias Golu Tamta (31), a resident of Mall Road in Almora district, and Laxmi Pokhariya (19), a resident of the Ramgarh area in Nainital district.
Police said another Aadhaar card found in Shubham’s pocket mentioned his address as Champawat.
Authorities said they were informed about two bodies lying in a pool of blood around 7:30 am. They found blood-stained stones scattered nearby. Preliminary findings suggested that the two were bludgeoned to death.
Senior police superintendent Manjunath TC said that four suspects were arrested in the double murder case.
“All four are friends of the deceased. Based on the information they provided, the police team recovered the stone used in the murder, a mobile phone, and blood-stained clothes,” he said.
Police have identified the suspects as Gaurav Negi (25) alias Akku Thakur and Deepu Sharma alias Dhruv (20) from Vasundhara Colony, Saurabh Bhatt alias Bhatiya (20) from Teenpani, and Deepesh Latwal alias Raj (25) from Badi Mukhani.
“Preliminary interrogation revealed that they were all drinking alcohol when the accused started harassing Laxmi, which Shubham and Laxmi objected to. During the scuffle, they killed Shubham. The accused also killed Laxmi and crushed their heads with a stone to conceal their identities. An FIR has been registered against all of them under Section 103 (1) of the BNS,” he said.
SSP Manjunath TC said Shubham had earlier worked at a drug de-addiction centre and had also been jailed under the Arms Act in the past. The woman was a BSc second-year student. “The two were living in a live-in relationship in a rented accommodation in the Mukhani area of Haldwani,” he added.
Police are now probing the circumstances of the crime. “We are investigating why and how the two reached the Mandi area and whether the murders took place there or if they were killed elsewhere and their bodies dumped in Haldwani,” the SSP said.
The police have formed six special investigation teams under the supervision of SP City Manoj Katyal. “So far, four suspects have been arrested and are being interrogated. CCTV footage from nearby areas is being examined, and a network of informants has been activated. We are pursuing all possible leads, and the case will be solved soon,” SSP Manjunath TC said.
