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More than a week after Divya Pahuja, 27, was shot dead in a Gurugram hotel room, police are yet to nab two suspects who allegedly disposed of her body, officers aware of the matter said on Wednesday, adding that lookout circulars (LOCs) have been issued against the absconding men to prevent them from escaping abroad.
Police in Gurugram have also announced a reward of ₹50,000 for clues that lead to their capture, and another reward of the same amount for the recovery of Pahuja’s body, which is yet to be found.
Pahuja, an accused in the alleged fake encounter of dreaded gangster Sandeep Gadoli, was out on bail after being in prison for seven years when she was killed on January 2. Police said she was allegedly blackmailing Abhijeet Singh, a hotel owner in the city, who purportedly shot her dead at one of his properties.
Singh, and his employees Hemraj, 28, Om Prakash, 23, and Megha Phogat, 20, were arrested in connection with the case. Police also recovered a luxury car used to transport the body from Patiala in Punjab, but the two men who allegedly disposed of the body — identified as Balraj Gill and Ravi Bandra — are yet to be found, and Pahuja’s body remains missing.
On Wednesday, assistant commissioner of police (crime) Varun Kumar Dahiya said, “We got LOCs issued against Gill and Banga, looking at the probability that they may attempt to fly abroad to evade arrest. Six crime branch teams have been formed and pressed into action, carrying out raids at different locations in search of Gill and Banga.”
Dahiya added, “From our investigation, it has surfaced that Singh has no knowledge of where they (Gill and Banga) took the body.”
Pahuja’s murder came to light after her family, unable to contact her, approached the police suspecting foul play.
Subsequently, a police team reached Singh’s hotel on Tuesday night, found bloodstains, and then accessed CCTV footage which showed two men dragging a body wrapped in a bed sheet and loading it into a blue BMW sedan.
Singh, Hemraj, and Prakash were arrested the same day, while Phogat — who allegedly disposed of the murder weapon and Pahuja’s belongings, including the victim’s iPhone — was arrested on January 8.
Police found the BMW at the parking lot of the New Patiala Bus Stand. A senior officer said that after abandoning the BMW in Patiala, Gill and Bandra boarded another car and travelled to Rajasthan. Investigators believe that Pahuja’s body was dumped somewhere along the Ghaggar river in Patiala.
Officers said Phogat’s two-day police remand ended on Wednesday, and she was forwarded to judicial custody.
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