The sensational murder case of a young policeman – Birendra Kumar reached a closure with the police claiming to have solved it within three days of recovering the dead body. According to the police, Birendra’s distant relative Ashok Kumar Mehta was behind his murder. Allegedly, the accused was eyeing both the property and wife of the victim.

Birendra, a resident of Chatra’s Mayurhund region, was living in Deepugarha mohalla of Hazaribagh. He had gone missing on the night of December 15, when someone sitting in an SUV had called him immediately after he had returned from his office. He sat in the car, next to the driver, and drove away. The next morning, his dead body was recovered about 20 kilometres away from his residence. Birendra had recently been transferred to the police control room. He was earlier posted in the traffic police department.

With Birendra’s family alleging that the killer could be a known person, the police took Ashok in custody on suspicion. Police questioned him and even took him to a hotel in Deepugarha where he and Birendra had dinner and consumed liquor.

Superintendent of Police Karthik S said, “Ashok broke down during the interrogation and admitted to having killed Birendra.” He told us that after leaving the hotel, when Birendra took his seat in the car, in an inebriated state, then he hit the victim on his head with a heavy object, which resulted in his immediate death.

Following which, Ashok steered the vehicle towards Ichak and dumped the dead body there. He then drove back to his village Mayurhund but only after washing his clothes and SUV in the river.
Karthik said the police had recovered the jeans and T-shirt that Ashok wore while committing the crime and seized his SUV and two mobile phones. He said, “Ashok is a man of poor character and had been eying Birendra’s wife Poonam Devi. He killed Birendra simpl, to grab a piece of land which Poonam owned, by remarrying her.”