The Hindu : Several unanswered questions in S-I's murder case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Several unanswered questions in S-I's murder case

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 8. Even though the North-West Delhi police today claimed to have solved the brutal murder of the Crime Branch Sub-Inspector, Satish Dalal, and a police informer with the arrest of four persons, several questions pertaining to the case still remain unanswered.

The police claimed that they arrested two of the accused, Joginder and Rajinder, from near a Mangolpuri temple around 10 a.m. today. However, it is reliably learnt that both had been detained for questioning hours after the bodies of Satish and the informer, Vijay Swami, were discovered.

According to the police, the Anti-Homicide squad team headed by an inspector of the Crime Branch had gone to mount a raid at Mangolpuri on a tip-off that a Santro car being used to commit crime was spotted there. Despite the fact that Satish and Vijay did not return for long after conducting a reconnaissance, other team members apparently did not react promptly to check.

Meanwhile, the Sub-Inspector along with the informer were overpowered, his revolver snatched after which the accused even took them inside their house where the Santro was parked. They then strangled the duo and dumped the body parts in a Maruti van to dispose them of in Haryana.

The police are yet to find why the other members of the raiding team kept waiting for Satish and Vijay, instead of suspecting that something had gone amiss. Also, they reported the matter to the local police. The North-West Delhi police said by the time they mounted a raid at the residence of the accused after being informed, it had been locked. The police claimed that the criminals, including Laxmi, her sons, Joginder, Rajinder and Vinod, murdered Satish and Vijay in that brutal manner, as they were afraid of being arrested for assaulting a public servant. However, considering the criminal background of the accused mainly pertaining to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Excise Act, the motive provided by the police does not appear to be too strong to compel the accused to commit such a gruesome crime.

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