He came to Delhi to start a new life. His life ended over Rs 1,000

What is the price of a thousand rupees in Delhi? In this case, a life. The life of a 30-year-old man whose body was dumped by the roadside at Naraina in the national capital. He was murdered simply because he could not pay his taxi fare.

The tragedy, however, didn’t end with his murder. His killer was identified and arrested before his identity was even known to the police. For around two weeks, his body lay in a morgue as an anonymous victim while his grieving family searched for him across the NCR (national capital region).

For those two weeks, no one knew his story. His only marker of identity was a distinctive heart-shaped tattoo etched on his left forearm, featuring the names “ANAND” and “RENU” on either side. Thus, the police assumed his name might be Anand, and that Renu was his wife or lover. These names could even be his children — a boy and a girl.

Here is the story of that man.

It was around 7 am on August 17. The Delhi Police control room received a call that a body of a naked man was found on a pavement at Naraina Chowk, near the wall of the Sewa Bharti NGO.

A team from the Naraina police station reached at the spot and found he “looked no more than 30”.

He had a deep injury on the right side of his head and several other wounds on his body. It appeared that he had been beaten with a brick and a broken earthen flower pot — both items were found nearby. There were stains of blood on them.

Police personnel searched for an identity card or a phone and came up empty. There was nothing to help identify him.

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However, once they scanned his body, they found the heart tattoo with an arrow etched on his left forearm.

This, a police officer said, was the only clue they found. Police personnel checked with local residents to ascertain the identity of the body too. Nobody recognised him.

Sleuths from the Crime Branch and Forensic Science Laboratory arrived within an hour. The body was subsequently shifted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in Hari Nagar, around 5 km away. A murder case was registered at Naraina police station.

With the identity of the victim unknown, investigators turned to footage from CCTV cameras around the spot.

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During the analysis, investigators noticed a grey van moving suspiciously around the area around 1.30 am, hours before the body was first reported to the police.

A heart-shaped tattoo bearing the names “ANAND” and “RENU” on the victim’s left forearm. (Express Photo)

“The vehicle’s registration number was initially unclear. Investigators analysed successive CCTV recordings to reconstruct its route before and after the crime. After examining footage of around 500 cameras and conducting field verification simultaneously, police identified the vehicle as a Maruti Eeco van. Its registration number was DL-8CU-7367,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Hareshwar Swami said.

The vehicle’s owner was identified as 59-year-old Rajinder Kumar alias Annu. He was immediately traced and picked up for questioning. He lived with his wife and children in Naraina village, the officer said.

A fight turns deadly

Rajinder told investigators that he drove his car as a taxi.

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On August 16, he said, he was returning home after dropping off a passenger in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, when he spotted two men near IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon. It was around 11.15 pm, he told the police.

Those two men were looking to travel to Safdarjung Enclave in Delhi, approximately 24 km away. As it was late at night and the men were drunk, they agreed to pay Rs 1,000 as fare.

According to Rajinder’s statement, one of the passengers asked to be dropped off near the gate of Safdarjung Hospital and told him that the other passenger would pay the fare.

The victim, Rajinder said, wanted to be dropped at Chattarpur, which would have required the driver to travel back approximately 10 km.

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An argument then broke out between the two, Rajinder told investigators. The victim also refused to pay the fare, saying he didn’t have any money or valuables with him. The passenger, according to Rajinder, subsequently told him to drop him wherever he could.

Furious, Rajinder drove towards his home. When they got near Naraina Chowk, around 700 metres from Rajinder’s residence, he pressed for the fare. Now he wanted Rs 1,500.

The victim didn’t have any money and wasn’t even carrying a mobile phone.

Rajinder stopped his car and the two men got out near the Sewa Bharti NGO. He told investigators that he picked up whatever he found and attacked the passenger.

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The man collapsed. Rajinder removed his clothes with the intention to sell them.

Then Rajinder, who was also under the influence of alcohol, called his wife Kamini Makhija and their 28-year-old son Lakshya to the spot. They arrived within minutes on Lakshya’s scooter. Together, Rajinder told the investigators, they dumped the body on the pavement and left.

All three were arrested subsequently.

Police said the deceased’s clothes and shoes were recovered from the Paschim Vihar drain where Lakshya had dumped them, while Kamini led police to the Maruti Eeco. Kamini had driven the car back home, while Rajinder rode the scooter.

Rajinder, police said, is from Inderpuri, a neighbourhood 3 km away. He had subsequently moved to a rented home in Naraina with his wife and two children.

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His daughter is married. Kamini worked in a factory while Lakshya worked as a courier for a private company.

The murder case was solved within hours. But the police had another problem. They still didn’t know who the victim was.

Identifying the mystery victim

Police continued efforts to establish the deceased’s identity.

A mugshot of the victim and a photo of the tattoo was sent to police stations around Naraina and uploaded on the Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET) — the police database meant to help match missing persons with unidentified bodies in eight member states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh.

There was no information.

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Police also took Rajinder to IFFCO Chowk and enquired around the area. They visited Safdarjung Hospital gate and checked CCTV cameras around it to track the victim’s companion. They couldn’t find anything.

Police also published a mugshot of the victim and a photograph of his tattoo in some newspapers, appealing for any information. Police printed posters featuring his face and circulated them to nearby police stations and Gurgaon.

No one came forward.

Then, a breakthrough

Two weeks later, on September 1, a Gurgaon Police Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) approached Naraina police station looking for the investigating officer (IO).

He told the IO that a missing person’s complaint they’d received contained a photograph similar to the man in the poster. The missing person complaint had been registered at Gurgaon Sector 29 Police Station.

The victim was finally identified. He was Anand Ram and Renu was his wife. Now the mystery behind the tattoo too was solved.

Anand’s family had lodged a missing person’s complaint on August 19 after he failed to return home.

Only a few days earlier, Anand had arrived in Delhi from his hometown, Almora in Uttrakhand, along with his wife and two children. They were staying in the Safdarjung Enclave area with a relative.

Police also identified his companion in the car that night as Sonu, a friend of Anand’s cousin.

According to police, Anand, his cousin and Sonu had gone to Sahara Mall in Gurgaon on August 16. They had spent their evening drinking.

Anand’s cousin took his phone and kept it with him for safekeeping. “As he was new to the city, I was apprehensive that he may lose his phone,” he told the police. Around 11 pm, the three men were heavily drunk and decided to head home.

Anand’s cousin told them he would stay back in Gurgaon. From Sahara Mall, Anand and Sonu walked towards IFFCO Chowk in search of a lift to Delhi when they spotted the Maruti Eeco van.

The Gurgaon Police already questioned Sonu. He had told them he didn’t know where exactly the Eeco cab driver took Anand afterwards.

Sonu told police that because he was drunk, he didn’t realise Anand may not have any money with him. Rajinder, his wife Kamini and son Lakshya are now lodged in Tihar jail.

Anand’s wife Renu, along with their six-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, have returned to Almora after his cremation on September 2. The family said he used to drive his own taxi in Uttarakhand, but sold it after suffering losses. He came to Delhi hoping to find work in a hotel, where his cousin was already employed.

The heart-shaped tattoo on his arm had started with just his name. After he married Renu and their son was born, he had her name etched below his own.

“My husband had come to Delhi with the hope of starting a new life and raising our children,’’ Renu said. “But for just Rs 1,000-1,500, they have snatched away my husband and the father of my children. Who will take care of them? How will I raise them?”