The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday arrested three suspects for allegedly beating to death a 26-year-old waiter on November 17 after a used plate he was taking away touched a guest during a wedding function at a banquet hall on Pushta Road, police said, adding that among the three arrested, one was the banquet hall operator and other two were his staff.
The incident came to fore on November 18 when the police recovered a dead body of an unidentified man, having injury marks, from Vijay Vihar Pushta area.
Based on local information, the man was identified as Pankaj Kumar, a resident of DLF Shankar Vihar, who earned a living by serving as waiter at wedding functions.
Based on a complaint by his family, the police came to know from Kumar’s mother that he left his house on November 17 saying he will return the next day after work.
Based on his mother’s complaint, and severe head injuries that the autopsy revealed, the police registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) against unidentified persons.
“The CCTV footage from the wedding event was not available as it was deleted after two days. So, we called up different operators who were part of the arrangements at the banquet hall where Kumar last served as a waiter. They were questioned and we came to know that while Kumar was taking away a used plate, it touched a guest, identified as Rishabh Kumar, and he along with two others severely beat him up,” said Ravi Prakash Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Ankur Vihar.
“Banquet hall operator Manoj Gupta also beat up Kumar, besides two other staff identified as Amit and Ajay, who later dumped an injured Kumar at an isolated spot a kilometre away from the venue and left,” the ACP said.
The ACP said police on Wednesday arrested operator Manoj Gupta, and the two staff identified as Amit Kumar and Ajay Kumar.
“Rishabh Kumar and others, the guests who initially beat up Pankaj, are also suspects in the case and efforts are on to trace them,” the ACP said.