GHAZIABAD: A 30-year-old man was arrested on Friday for kidnapping and killing a 60-year-old priest in Sihani Gate on Tuesday.The priest has been identified as Harvansh Kumar Shukla, who used to conduct rituals in Shiv Shakti temple in GDA quarters in Lohia Nagar. He had gone missing since the evening of August 28. Next day, his son Amlesh Kumar had filed a missing person’s complaint at Sihani Gate police station stating that his father had left on his moped on Tuesday evening for Govindpuram, but did not return home.Three teams were formed to locate Harvansh and on the basis of electronic surveillance the accused, Upendra Kumar , was caught from Harsaon village. Police said, Upendra is also a priest. His accomplice Dheeraj Kumar is still absconding.Upendra told police that Harvansh was in an illicit relationship with his cousin which infuriated him and so he hatched a plan to kill him.Ghaziabad SSP Vaibhav Krishna said, “Upendra said that Harvansh was in an illicit relationship with his 40-year-old cousin and one day while going through her mobile phone he came to know about it. He found voice recordings of both of them which were quite explicit.” “Upendra subsequently hatched a plan to murder Harvansh. He lured him to a canal in Masuri after posing as a woman on phone and requesting him to conduct a religious ceremony at her home. Dheeraj was sent to accompany Harvansh to Masuri. The duo later killed him using bricks and threw his body in the Ganga canal,” the SSP added.Harvansh’s two-wheeler was also thrown in the canal. The body was found by Bulandshahr police a day later.Upendra has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.

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