Three men were arrested in connection with the murder of an LLB student whose body parts were found in a sack from a drain in Meerut district on Saturday night.
Police said the accused — Shahvez, Alizani and Salman — were all in their 20s and were friends with the victim, who was identified as Yash Rastogi (20).
On June 27, Yash’s father Anil Rastogi had filed a complaint alleging that his son had been kidnapped. “While interrogating two other suspects, police zeroed in on the possible involvement of the three accused. The police said the phones of the three were put on surveillance and based on Yash’s last-known location, the three were arrested,” said police.
Superintendent of Police (Meerut City) Vineet Bhatnagar said, “The accused told the police that Yash and around 40 other persons had created a WhatsApp group of members interested in homosexual activities. Shahvez was also a member of that group. While Yash left the group in June, he started blackmailing Shahvez, who later paid him Rs 50,000 to remain silent but Yash started demanding more money.”
The police said on the evening of June 26, Shahvez called Yash at his home in Lisadi Gate area on the pretext of giving him more money.
“Shahvez had also called Alizani and Salman at that time and together they killed Yash after he reached Shahvez’s house. They dismembered the body, put it into a sack and dumped it in a nearby drain. We have arrested the three accused and Yash’s body was cremated on Sunday afternoon,” said Meerut medical police station in-charge, Sant Sharan Singh.
Meanwhile, Yash’s parents and local residents blocked the road outside the mortuary around Sunday noon and refused to perform the last rites till the authorities announced adequate compensation for the family. They ended the protest after senior police officers reached the spot and pacified them.