Ajmer, Rajasthan: In a chilling case tied to a property dispute, a 45-year-old man named Lekhraj was strangled and buried in a forest after he refused to sell his land in Pushkar. Police on Thursday arrested five people, including the main accused — his own friend, Shyam Singh Rawat.
Lekhraj, originally from Nagaur and residing in Kotra, had gone missing on October 13 after attending a birthday party. His son, Parth Raiger, filed a missing person complaint the next day when Lekhraj didn’t return and his phone remained switched off.
A special investigation team traced his last known movements through CCTV footage, which showed him at a café in Vaishali Nagar between 10 AM and 11 AM, followed by a car tailing his motorcycle. The vehicle was later identified as belonging to Shyam Singh Rawat (37), a resident of Chainpura village in Nasirabad.
Upon interrogation, Shyam confessed to the crime. He told police that he had been pressuring Lekhraj to sell a plot of land in Pushkar. When Lekhraj refused, Shyam and his accomplices kidnapped him on the night of October 13 from Lohagal Road.
They drove him to several locations in an attempt to coerce him into signing over the land. When he continued to resist, the group strangled him with a rope. To hide the crime, they transported his body to Kaserpura village, poured acid and salt over it, and buried it six feet underground using a JCB machine to hasten decomposition.
The police recovered the body on Wednesday night with the help of an FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) team.
Those arrested include:
Shyam Singh Rawat (37)
Beeram Singh Rawat (29)
Chagan Singh Rawat (33)
Naresh Rawat (19)
Vimal Singh Rawat (21)
All are residents of Mayapura, Mangliyawas.
Police revealed that Shyam promised a share of the land proceeds to his accomplices in exchange for their help in the crime.
