Greater Noida: Man leaves home after phonecall, found shot in head

GREATER NOIDA: A 45-year-old trader who had left home after a phone call was found dead with a bullet wound in the head in a sugarcane field in Greater Noida’s Kalonda village.
Afzal Mewati, a vendor of plastic items, had left his home in Bulandshahr around 4pm on Tuesday. He had told his wife that he would return soon.
When his wife called him up around an hour later, she found his phone was switched off.“After failing to reach him, his wife informed some of their relatives and neighbours and they started looking for him.
They searched for him in the entire village and posted his pictures on the social media also.
Around 25 people had been looking for him in the nearby villages,” said Salman Ahmed, one of Afzal’s neighbour. Salman said that an elderly person informed them that he had seen a two-wheeler parked near a sugarcane field in Kalonda village. Afzal’s relatives rushed to the spot and identified the two-wheeler. Around 6.30pm, the trader’s body was found in the field.
“A stole had been tied to his neck and mouth suggesting that he could have been throttled also,” he said. “The Rs 250 he was carrying in his wallet, a diary, a pen and PAN card were all intact but his phone was missing,” he said.
Afzal had a bullet wound right in the middle of his head. Ahmed said that while the Bulandshahr police were informed, they in turn called up the Jarcha police in Noida as the spot where the body was found fell in their jurisdiction.
Afzal’s family alleged that police from the two districts were engaged in a jurisdictional dispute, because of which, the body could be picked up from the spot only after nine hours.
The body was sent for an autopsy around 3.30am on Wednesday. An FIR was registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Additional DCP (Greater Noida) Vishal Pandey said that soon after getting information, a police team was rushed to the spot.
“Autopsy proceedings have been initiated and an FIR has been lodged in the case. Two teams have been formed to probe the murder,” he added.