Shivam Pal had driven the four to Ganga river barage in UP's Bijnor, police said (Representational)
Four men have been arrested in Ghaziabad for allegedly strangling a cab driver to death using a towel after an argument over non-payment of travel fare, police said on Sunday.
The accused have been identified as Rupesh, Sanjay, Ankur and Sunny - all residents of Ghaziabad district, they said.
The incident happened on August 30 when the four men returned to the district from a trip to Ganga river barrage in UP's Bijnor district. The cab driver Shivam Pal asked for the payment of Rs 23,000 that was agreed upon by the two parties before they went on the journey, police said.
After returning to Ghaziabad, the four men asked the driver to drop them at Govindpuram in the district - further off from their starting location. The driver refused. The accused, then, paid the dues to the driver.
Instead of getting out of the car, one of them used a gamcha (towel) and strangled Shivam Pal to death.
They drove the car to Kushaliya village where the driver's body was thrown out onto the fields and the vehicle was left there.
The car's owner Bijendra, who is the dead driver's uncle, lodged a missing person's complaint and an FIR was registered the same day.
Shivam Pal's body was found in a maize field the following day.
On Saturday, a police team arrested the four men near a private business management institute, Ghaziabad Superintendent of Police (Rural) Neeraj Kumar Jadaun told PTI.