The missing son of a serving assistant commissioner of police is feared dead after a suspect detained by the cops claimed that the youth was killed in Panipat. Police officially maintained it was a case of abduction because the body hasn’t yet been recovered. A police officer said on Thursday evening that a search operation to locate the body and to verify the claims of the suspect was under way.
The ACP’s son is Lakshay Chauhan, a 24-year-old lawyer who practiced at the Tis Hazari Courts.
A police source said that on the evening of Jan 22, Chauhan and two friends, an advocate and a clerk, went for a wedding function in Rohtak, Haryana, in his car and then went missing. The family found his phone switched off. A search was mounted and his friends and others known to the youth contacted but this unearthed no clue to his whereabouts.
“Unable to find any information about Chauhan, his father filed a missing person report at Samaypur Badli police station at 11.20pm on Jan 23,” police said. Following their investigation, the cops registered a case under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement, kidnapped or abducted person).”
A police source said the cops detained a suspect who was with the youth in the car. He told them that they had an argument with Chauhan during the wedding function. “Instead of coming to Delhi, they drove to Panipat where they pushed Chauhan into the Munak canal,” the source said. “The suspect’s testimony is being verified. Police are searching for another person who was in the car and went missing when the incident came to light.”
An officer said that police had sent divers from Delhi to Panipat to conduct searches in the canal. Additionally, some divers are searching other places on the outskirts of Delhi. “We have conducted searches for more than 10 hours but haven’t found a body so far. We have also alerted the neighbouring states and circulated the victim’s photograph to expedite the search,” the officer said.
Another source said all angles, including monetary disputes, are being probed. Ravi Kumar Singh, DCP (Outer North), said that during the inquiry, the cops discovered that Chauhan was last seen at Karnal Bypass. “Following the preliminary investigation, 3-4 suspected persons have been detained and are being interrogated,” Singh said.
