Ghaziabadone day before
PhD scholar Ankit Khokhar was murdered by his own landlord Umesh Sharma on 6 October.
The landlord and mouthy brother-in-law Umesh Sharma, who murdered PHD scholar Ankit Khokhar in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, turned out to be extremely cunning. First committed murder for not returning Rs 60 lakhs borrowed in the name of business. Then about 35 lakh rupees were withdrawn from Ankit’s account in 54 times through online transaction and debit card. To prove that Ankit is alive, he kept using his mobile, changing the location and also replying to friends on WhatsApp.
Understand the pattern of murder before the murder story…
60 kms within a radius of
Landlord Umesh had thought that Ankit has to be killed. That’s why he shifted Ankit to Radha Enclave house 10 days before the murder. Earlier, along with Umesh and his wife, Ankit lived in Devendrapuri’s house. Ankit was studying at 12 noon on 6th October. Then Umesh reached there, he strangled her to death. Keeping the dead body in the house, he went to the market. Because he was a compounder, he bought a surgical saw.
After coming back home, the head, torso and legs were cut into pieces. Packed them in 3 polythene. After this waited for the night. Then after keeping the pieces of the dead body in the back seat and trunk of the car, he reached Khatauli. Here he first threw the torso. Then he reached Ganganagar. Threw the legs here. At last he reached the Peripheral Expressway. Here he threw the head. After that he returned home. About 60 kms. Placed the pieces of the dead body at 3 places in the radius.
Now read the story sequentially from Ankit’s disappearance till the revelation of his murder…
On 12 December 2022, six friends of Ankit reached Modinagar police station and lodged his missing report.
Ankit missing on October 7, missing registered on December 12
Ankit Khokhar, 39, was a resident of Mukandpur village in Baghpat district. Ankit was doing PHD from Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University of Lucknow. Three months ago, he had submitted his file to the university and then came to Ghaziabad. He was living here on rent in Umesh Sharma’s house in Radha Enclave Colony, Modinagar town.
According to friends, Ankit is missing since October 7, 2022. Even before this, they had a conversation on the phone. On December 12, 2022, six friends had lodged a missing report at Modi Nagar police station, expressing suspicion of murder.
Before moving forward in the news, we also show you the details of Ankit’s bank accounts…
These are the details of a bank account of Ankit. At the top it can be seen that earlier there were 44 lakhs in the account, now only 9.40 lakhs are left.
Mobile location found in rented house, money kept coming out of account
The police did two things first in their investigation. The details of Ankit’s bank accounts and the location of his mobile were extracted. This gave important information. That is, Ankit had two bank accounts. One in PNB and the other in Canara Bank. Money was withdrawn from both the accounts till two months after Ankit went missing. Total transactions found were 52.
Transferred 13 lakh rupees from PNB to Canara Bank in 13 times and then the amount was withdrawn. While about 22 lakh rupees were withdrawn directly from PNB through debit card and net banking. There were 44 lakh rupees in the PNB account before October 17, now only 9.40 lakh rupees are left.
That is, about 35 lakh rupees were withdrawn from both the accounts between October and December. The information that came from the telecom company was even more shocking. The location of Ankit’s mobile was continuously found in the house of his landlord Umesh Sharma.
This is the main murderer Umesh Sharma, who seems to be Ankit’s brother-in-law. He strangled Ankit to death.
Killed by strangulation, cut into three pieces with a saw, packed in polythene and thrown
Just then what, the police picked up Umesh Sharma. When strictly questioned, he spewed everything. According to Umesh, he killed Ankit Khokhar by strangulation on the evening of 6 October itself. At that time he was studying and strangled himself while reading. Then Umesh went to the market.
Brought a saw. Cut the dead body into three pieces. Packed them in white colored polythene. One piece was thrown near the Khatauli Canal, the second piece near the Mussoorie Canal and the third piece near the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. Another special thing came to light that Umesh was a compounder with an orthopedic doctor. He knew that the dead body could be easily cut with a surgical saw. That’s why he bought a surgical saw.
As soon as one and a half crore came into Ankit’s account, the brother-in-law got greedy
He also told in detail why Umesh killed Ankit. Umesh’s in-laws are in Ankit’s village Mukandpur. Ankit’s friend is Pradeep, who is Umesh’s brother-in-law. Due to this, Ankit Khokhar also considered Umesh Sharma as his brother-in-law. Not only this, Umesh’s wife used to tie Rakhi to Ankit considering him as a brother. That’s why three months ago, Ankit came to Modinagar town and started living in Umesh’s house.
Since he used to respect Umesh a lot, he told about the sale of the ancestral property and about Rs 1.5 crore coming into his account. It was from here that Umesh started planning the murder. Umesh borrowed 60 lakh rupees from Ankit in the name of business. Then on October 6, 2022, Ankit was strangled to death with the intention of not having to return this money. After this, by grabbing Ankit’s debit-credit card and mobile net banking, he took out about 35-36 lakh rupees more.
Police teams are running a search operation to find the pieces of Ankit’s dead body between Muradnagar to Niwari Ganganahar.
Money withdrawn from UP to Uttarakhand by turning on Ankit’s mobile
Ankit’s mobile was required to be active for net banking, so Umesh stopped call services on it. Only WhatsApp and normal text message services were kept running on this phone, so that OTP kept coming. After withdrawing the huge amount, Umesh gave the debit card to his friend Pravesh Sharma, a resident of Chhipayana (Noida) and asked him to go to Uttarakhand to withdraw the money.
Pravesh did exactly that. On December 1, 2022, 40-40 thousand rupees were withdrawn from Haridwar ATM, Rishikesh ATM on December 2 and Roorkee ATM on December 12. Pravesh had left his phone at home in Noida, so that his location would not come to Uttarakhand. Not only this, Pravesh kept Ankit’s mobile working in Uttarakhand, so that everyone would know that Ankit is present in Uttarakhand and withdrawing money from his accounts.
The police of Modi Nagar police station have arrested Umesh Sharma, the landlord of the deceased and his friend Pravesh in this case.
Friend said – Call was not working, Ankit’s message keyword raised suspicion
‘Dainik Bhaskar’ talked to Ankit Khokhar’s partner Rupesh Kumar and Dr. Vishal Sharma about why the friends got suspicious. Rupesh told, he is Ankit’s friend of almost 20 years, when all had taken admission in CCSU campus. Around this Diwali, Rupesh called Ankit to wish him, but the number kept saying ‘This telephone number does not exist’ for several days in a row. Rupesh felt that Ankit had blocked him.
On this, Rupesh discussed with the rest of the colleagues. Turns out this is happening to everyone. After this, Rupesh comes to know from Lucknow’s PHD Scholars Group that he is getting some messages from Ankit’s WhatsApp number and from the keywords in the message, he suspects that he is not Ankit. The suspicion of Rupesh and Vishal Sharma deepened on this.
He started an internal investigation. It was learned that Ankit has sold an ancestral property in Baghpat district a few days ago, for which more than one crore rupees have come into his bank account. When friends asked Ankit’s landlord Umesh Sharma about him, he started giving evasive answers. Just what then, friends gathered and came to Modinagar police station on 12th December and gave the application. After this, the police opened the whole case in three days.
DCP Eraj Raja told that the forensic team has recovered important evidence from the house of the accused landlord.
DCP said – two accused arrested, efforts continue to recover the dead body
Ghaziabad Police Commissionerate’s DCP (Rural) Dr. Iraj Raja said, Umesh Sharma and his friend Pravesh Sharma are arrested in this murder case. The forensic team has recovered blood and hair from Umesh’s house, which could possibly belong to Ankit Khokhar. His debit-credit card, bank passbook, saw used in the murder, burnt clothes have also been recovered from the house.
Several teams are running a search operation to find the pieces of the corpse. The police is still ascertaining whether there is anyone else involved in the murder. Umesh’s wife can also be arrested in this case, because the murder took place in the house and she had full knowledge about it.
First parents died, now only son also passed away
Ankit’s father retired from the post of principal in the year-2013. A few days later both Ankit’s mother and father died. Due to not having any other child, only Ankit was left in the house. He did not want to live in the village. That’s why the ancestral property was also sold for more than one crore rupees.
Outspoken brother-in-law Umesh Sharma knew that after Ankit’s disappearance, there would be no one to keep good news about him. If someone would have asked, he would have said that Ankit had gone somewhere without informing.