A day after the charred body of a property dealer from Ghaziabad was found in his burnt car, police said that the man did not die of fire but was choked to death before the vehicle was set ablaze. The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested two men-- allegedly the victim's friend-- for strangling and killing the property deader with a 'dog leash', before setting his body on fire inside his Toyota Fortuner SUV in Greater Noida's Nagla Nainsukh village on Tuesday.

The accused have been identified as Vishal Rajput and Jeet Chaudhary, also residents of Ghaziabad. The police investigation revealed that Rajput and Chaudhary got the victim, 46-year-old Sanjay Yadav, drunk, then looted Yadav's ornaments before killing him. They then put his body in his SUV, took it to a remote location in Noida,  and set it on fire.

The charred SUV of Yadav was found in a forest area in Dadri on Tuesday night. His family members told police that at noon, he went to his friends Rajput and Choudhary at their home, and alleged that he must have been killed by them. Accordingly, police filed a case and the accused were taken into custody.

During interrogation, the accused admitted to killing Yadav to loot him. They told police that they befriended the realtor after finding out that he usually carried a lot of cash and wore jewellery and their plan was to rob him.

On Tuesday, when he visited them, they had a 'beer party' and got Yadav drunk. Later, they looted his ornaments and then choked him with a dog leash. The accused then put Yadav's body in the rear seat of the SUV, drove it to Dadri forest and used petrol to set the vehicle on fire. 

One of the accused suffered a minor burn injury while setting the vehicle on fire. “We recovered the dog leash with which the murder was committed. We also found a bracelet, two rings, one gold-like chain, Rs 6,250 in cash, and two mobile phones from the accused,” said Ashok Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Greater Noida, according to a report by Indian Express. 

A case has been filed against both accused under sections 103(1) (murder), 309(6) (robbery) and 238(5) (giving false information) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita at Dadri police station.