Delivery agent killed by customer in Lucknow, body packed into delivery bag

A 30-year-old delivery agent was killed when he went to deliver phones worth nearly Rs 1 lakh to a customer in Lucknow, the police said on Monday. After killing the delivery man, the accused tried completing his orders to avoid suspicion.
On September 23, Bharat Prajapati went to deliver Google Pixel and Vivo phones ordered by an accused Himanshu Kanaujia, who had opted for cash-on-delivery payment mode.
Before reaching the location, Prajapati called Kanaujia, who then brought in Gajanan, the main accused, on a conference call. They asked him to deliver the phones to Kanaujia’s home in the Chinhat area.
Prajapati was last seen on the CCTV at around 2.30 pm on September 23 when he was on his way to Kanaujia’s home.
At Kanaujia’s home, Gajanan and another accused, Akash, killed Prajapati by strangulating him. They packed his body in a sack, in which Prajapati had delivered the phones, put it in a white car and disposed of in the Indira Canal.
The accused men also tried to deliver the remaining items in Prajapati’s bag as per his task list to avoid suspicion, the police said.
Prajapati’s family reported him missing on September 25 when he didn’t return home. Police launched an investigation and traced Gajanan’s number through Prajapati’s call records.
While Kanaujia and Akash have been caught, Gajanan remains at large. During questioning, Akash confessed to the crime, revealing that he and Gajanan had planned to rob Prajapati of the valuable smartphones.
Notably, Gajanan worked with Prajapati in a company for two months. According to Prajapati’s brother Prem Kumar, they were not friends and did not have any disputes.
Gajanan was sacked from the company for committing a fraud of Rs 2.5 lakh, Prem Kumar said.