Two held in Gurgaon for killing toll plaza attendant

Two youths were Monday arrested for the murder last week of a toll plaza attendant here following scrutiny of CCTV footage, police said

The youths, Vijayveer and Manjeet, belong to Gurgaon district and Delhi respectively.

"The duo have been arrested with the help of CCTV footage of the toll plaza. The formal announcement in this regard will be made later today (Monday). They are being questioned," a police officer here told IANS.

The newly-married 22-year-old toll plaza attendant, Umeshkant Pandey, was shot in the neck Friday night by unidentified people in a white Mahindra Bolero for a mere Rs.27 toll, which they refused to pay at Kheri Daula in south Gurgaon.

The Bolero jeep has also been impounded.

Police sources said the identity of the culprits was established from scrutiy of subsequent CCTV footage in which a youth in black-coloured clothes was seen. He came to the toll plaza to enquire about the status of the victim who had been shot.

Pandey, who belonged to a poor family from a village in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, had succumbed to his injuries at the Medanta Hospital here after he was rushed there.

The Gurgaon police had a tough time in identifying the culprits as the toll plaza CCTV grabs did not clearly show the registration number of the Bolero jeep or the identification of its occupants.

A police source said Vijayveer was the person who allegedly shot at the victim after an argument over paying the Rs.27 toll.

"We are investigating the matter. Both youths were drunk at the time of the incident," the police source said.

He said the other officials of the toll plaza got suspicious of the enquiry being made by the unidentified youth in black clothes about the victim. "They tried to nab him but he managed to escape," he added.