Not six, nine persons were involved in Neeraj’s murder

CP express grief over the brutal killing, calls for an end to attacks on inter-faith couples

Hyderabad police probing the suspected honour killing of Neeraj Panwar (22), who was hacked to death by his wife Sanjana’s cousins at Begum Bazaar on May 20, said that a total of nine persons were involved in the case, and so far they have arrested seven.

“Two more persons who were involved in the conspiracy, are yet to be arrested. Our teams are looking for them,” a senior officer associated with the investigation of the case told The Hindu, adding that the names of nine persons were cited in the remand report.

Initially, police suspected that only six persons were involved in the conspiracy to eliminate Neeraj, however, during the course of the investigation they came across three more names who directly helped the prime accused Abhinanadan Yadav alias Nandan (26) from Kolsawadi, Begum Bazar in the conspiracy. “They have knowledge about the murder plan,” he said.

While four persons were arrested on May 21, a day after the brutal murder, near Gurumitkal in Yadgir district of Karnataka, and a few days later Abhinandan was arrested. “Recently, we arrested one Prashanth, who played a key role in the conspiracy. He was the one who tracked the movements of the victim and recced his house for days before they resorted to the extreme step,” the officer said.

Denying the reports that one of the accused got engaged to Sanjana before she got married to Neeraj against the wishes of her family members, he said “The guy who got engaged to Sanjana was a good friend of Abhinandan. That had added to his vengeance. However, the boy moved on and got married to another woman. He has no role in this murder.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police D. Joel Davis said that they were collecting the evidence and took police custody of the accused persons so that they can file the charge-sheet within 45 days or in less than two months.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police C.V. Anand on Monday met the bereaved family members of Neeraj and expressed deep grief. He assured them of stringent action against the murderers by ensuring expeditious investigation and trial in the case.