Noida murder case: Two of the accused were arrested, said police. (Representational)
Leads from a drunk friend -- who partially remembered the registration number and colour of a motorcycle -- helped the Noida police catch the killers of a 23-year-old man who was beaten to death with a concrete brick on May 14, officials said.
In what appeared to be a case of road rage that took place during night hours on an isolated road stretch, the police were left with no clue about the culprits, even as CCTV footage proved to be little help for officials investigating the murder.
Abhay Tyagi, a resident of Bhangel under Phase 2 police station limits, was returning home with two friends. All of them were drunk when they got into a fight with three unidentified men who were coming on two motorcycles. An argument broke out between them, leading to Tyagi's death after which the trio fled, officials said.
Two of the accused were arrested by the police on Tuesday, they said.
"When the police launched the investigation, there was no clue about the culprits. However, one of the drunk friends of Tyagi told police that he could remember the number of one of the motorcycles on which the assailants had come," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Elamaran G told PTI.
"The friend could remember only half of the number – UP 16 CH and could not recall the last four digits and that the motorcycle was black in colour. We have tried analyzing CCTV footage of nearby areas also but to no avail. There was no other clue or leads which seemed workable. So we went around tracing the only lead we had," the officer said.
The police then filtered out two-wheelers registered under UP 16 (Gautam Buddh Nagar) followed by the code CH and further zeroed down to figure out the motorcycles owned by people living in Bhangel and nearby villages like Gejha and Salarpur.
"We then got a data of 100 motorcycles which were black-coloured and fitting the description we had. These vehicles were thoroughly checked and a few owners questioned, but they appeared clean and not connected with the case," DCP Elamaran said.
Zeroing down further on suspects, the police ultimately reached Mohit Singh Chauhan (22) and Vivek Singh (21), both living in Bhangel village. The police checked their call data records and questioned them after which they confessed to killing Tyagi on the night of May 14, he said.
Both accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder), while their third associate is on the run but searches are underway to arrest him, too, the officer added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)