UP: Greater Noida Student Killed By 'Friends' Over Argument, Body Buried In Farmland. 3 Held

The body of the BBA student in Greater Noida, who was identified as Yash Mittal, was buried 6 feet deep inside a farmland in Amroha.

UP News: A BBA student in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida was allegedly strangled to death by four friends after an argument broke out, news agency PTI reported on Thursday, citing police officials. The body of the student, who was identified as Yash Mittal, was buried 6 feet deep inside a farmland in Amroha.

The officials said that three of the accused were arrested on Wednesday evening after a gunfight with the police in Greater Noida in which the trio suffered gunshot injuries to their legs. They further stated that the victim and the accused belonged to the Gajraula area in UP's Amroha district, where the murder took place on Tuesday night.

According to PTI, the student belonged to a business family. He was enrolled for a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) degree at a private university in Greater Noida.

Speaking on the matter, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Saad Miya Khan said that when the victim did not return to the university hostel after leaving it on Monday, an FIR was lodged at the local Dadri police station and an investigation was initiated.

"On February 27, the police received information that Bennett University student Yash Mittal had not returned to the hostel since February 26. Immediately, police teams were formed to investigate this case. When CCTV footage was reviewed, it was found that he left the university campus safely in a car while talking to someone on the phone," Khan said, as quoted by PTI.

The officer further stated that as part of the investigation, call data records were also checked, leading police to some suspects, including his friend Rachit Nagar, who told the police about a party in Gajraula where Mittal was invited by his friends.

"During the probe, Rachit Nagar told police that he, Yash Mittal, Shivam Singh, Shubham Singh, Sushant Verma, and Shubham Chaudhary, who lived in Gajraula (Amroha), have been friends with each other since November 2023," the DCP said, as quoted by PTI.

"On February 26, they called Yash Mittal for the party in Gajraula. He went there, during which an argument broke out between him and others, after which he was killed, and his body was buried inside a farmland in Gajraula. We recovered the body from the farmland on Wednesday," Khan said.

A source privy to the investigation in the case told PTI that the argument broke out between the accused, all in their late 20s and financially weak, and Mittal, whose family is in the electronics business, after he told them that they were "surviving and having parties on his money." On Wednesday evening, the police received information that the accused were in Greater Noida's Dadri area.

3 Accused Held, Efforts On To Nab Fourth  

During a combing operation, a gunfight broke out during which the accused suffered bullet injuries to their legs and were later held, police said. According to the police, the fourth accused, Shubham Chaudhary, is at large, and efforts are underway to arrest him, PTI reported.

"The accused told the police that they had killed Yash on February 27, but to mislead the police and his family, they sent ransom messages on February 28," DCP Khan said, as quoted by PTI.

The police stated that they have lodged two FIRs against the accused, first for murder, criminal conspiracy, and evidence destruction, and the second after the encounter for an attempt to murder and under the Arms Act, as reported by PTI. The police further stated that further legal proceedings in the case are underway.