Taxi driver Aftab Amal, 45, was found dead in his car in Greater Noida
New Delhi:
A Delhi taxi driver was found dead in his car on his way home after dropping off a passenger in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr on Sunday. His family alleged that he was forced to sing “Jai Shri Ram” before he was killed by passengers he had picked up in the city of UP on his way back.
The Maruti Suzuki Dzire compact sedan was found by a police patrol in Badalpur of Greater Noida, 57 km from Delhi. Police have denied any common angle in the death of 45-year-old taxi driver Aftab Amal.
After dropping off a passenger at Bulandshahr, Amal picked up three people on the return leg. At some point during the trip, Amal called home using his mobile phone, his son Sabir said.
Sabir said that he felt something was wrong and so he decided to record the call.
“Dad must have felt that these people weren’t nice, so he called me and put his phone aside in the car, with the call still active. Then I started recording. 7-8 minutes after the call was heard saying to Dad to sing ‘Jai Shri Ram’, which he did … They made him stop the car, then they killed him. They didn’t loot it. There’s not a scratch on the car. They didn’t steal the wallet, “Sabir said.
Police have denied any common angle in the taxi driver’s murder. They said an argument broke out over the price of the trip, escalated and led to the murder.
Police said the defendant said “Jai Shri Ram” in a way of greeting a street peanut vendor when the vehicle stopped somewhere on the way to Delhi.
“In regards to the chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’, the passengers were drinking and talking to a peddler of peanuts. That conversation is not between the taxi driver and the people sitting in the car,” said Harish, deputy police commissioner for Central. Noida. Chandra said.
“The full audio clip is 40 minutes long. After saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the people in the taxi talked for a while and the conversation seemed to be going well. They seemed like they were having fun and laughing with each other,” he said Mr. Chandra said.
No one has been identified as a defendant or detained yet. Police are reviewing CCTV footage of a toll booth on National Highway 91 to try to identify the passengers in the taxi. The Noida police have transferred the case to the Bulandshahr police when the defendant got into the taxi from there.
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