Police said the accused had hatched the plan in order to acquire some of her properties. One of the accused was a property dealer who knew Gupta owned several properties and would rent them out. The accused also allegedly consulted another person about whether they should use arms or a knife to kill the woman.
Amrutha Guguloth, DCP (east), said, “The accused have been identified as Monu Dedha alias Chacha (26), Pushpendra Yadav alias Aiyaa (18), Sarthak Nagar alias Ladoo (19) and Vikas Chaudhary alias Lalla (20). Dedha works as a property dealer while Nagar and Chaudhary sell milk for livelihood. All four are school dropouts.”
TOI had on Thursday reported that three attackers had been identified from CCTV footage as Aiya Yadav, Ladoo and Monu Dedha.
Officials privy to the investigation said Dedha was eyeing five-six properties belonging to the Gupta, worth Rs 30-40 crore.
“Dedha was aware that Gupta used to put her properties on rent. The three consulted someone to ask if they should kill her using a pistol, knife or an ice-pick. We are trying to trace the man to ascertain if he was aware of the plot,” the official said.
The police said the accused also watched videos on YouTube on how to commit a murder before finally executing their plan. Dedha, Yadav and Aiyaa bought three ice-picks and attacked the woman together to ensure she died.
Later, Chaudhary met the three men and dropped them to Gurgaon, from where they booked a taxi through a cab aggregator and fled. The trio stayed at the house of an associate in Haryana’s Rithoj village. The person is yet to be nabbed. The car used in the crime has been recovered.
“We scanned the social media profiles of the accused. In one of them, the bike used in the crime was seen. The accused were confident they would be let off after a few years and then acquired the properties, so they used the same motorcycle and didn’t even bother covering their faces,” an official said.
Gupta was on his way home to Laxmi Nagar on his scooter when he was killed in Mandawali. The accused had been following her and stopped their vehicles 20 seconds before she arrived.
They were aware there was no CCTV camera under the bridge. Initially, it was thought to be a case of accident but later it emerged that the woman had been attacked with a sharp weapon.
The police said the entire conspiracy was hatched by Dedha, who also brought in Yadav and Aiyaa. Later, they asked for Chaudhary’s help in order to plan their escape. Cops said Dedha had been planning the murder since the last 10-15 days. After committing the crime, the trio parked the bike at Mangalman Bazaar, from where Chaudhary picked them up. The bike belongs to Aiya and has been seized.
