Man who hired taxis, killed drivers arrested in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police might have stumbled upon another serial killer, who would hire taxis, kill the driver and sell the vehicle. Vikas Tomar, who was arrested for kidnapping a taxi driver from Rohini on June 12 and dumping his body in a canal, was found involved in another crime committed on similar lines. His involvement in other such cases is being probed.
Last week, a serial killer named Devender Sharma, who had jumped parole, was arrested for killing cabbies and truckers on the highway.
Tomar would allegedly hire taxis through apps and win the driver’s confidence by acting friendly. Later, he would call the taxi driver from a different mobile number and hire him for an outstation trip. He was tracked down while police were probing the case of Pradeep Singhal, a cab driver who was reported missing on June 15. The family of Singhal (35), who lived in Vijay Vihar near Rohini, had told police that he had not returned home for the past three days.
During the search operation, police found that a body similar to Singhal’s had been found at Rabupura in Gautam Budh Nagar. Later, Singhal’s family members identified it to be his. The body had head injuries, so an FIR of abduction and murder was registered. Police scanned the calls received by Singhal prior to him going missing and zeroed in on three numbers, one of which was being used by Tomar.
A manhunt was launched for Tomar and a raid was conducted at his Baghpat home. After his arrest, he led police to Singhal’s taxi, a Swift Dzire, at Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that he took Singhal to Meerut and killed him. He then took the taxi to Kanpur to sell it to his associate for Rs 2 lakh. He also told police that he had murdered another cabbie for money.
DCP (Rohini) PK Mishra said, “Tomar might be involved in other similar cases. We are trying to arrest his associates to ascertain this. He is a graduate. He is married and has two children.”