Chandra Mohan Sharma

Killing and staged death Sharma lived with his wife Savita and had an unhappy married life. [Check Grammar] In 2014, he decided to fake his own death so that he could start a new life with his 25-year-old girlfriend Preeti Nagar, who lived in the same neighbourhood. He convinced his brother-in-law Videsh to help him by suggesting that Savita would get money from insurance policies after his staged death. His employer Honda was obliged to pay his family 3,600,000 in case of his death; he had another life insurance policy worth 300,000.

In April 2014, Sharma filed an RTI case against the alleged illegal encroachments on a temple land in Kasna village in Greater Noida. He claimed that he received threats to his life due to this, and filed a first information report (FIR) on 29 April, naming several persons for the threats.

Meanwhile, Sharma's family tried to call him, but his mobile phone was unreachable. In the morning, Sharma's relatives identified the body as his, through the car's license plate. The police initially suspected that Sharma's car had caught fire, and he could not open the door due to a malfunction of the vehicle's central locking. However, Sharma's relatives alleged that he was murdered for fighting against the land mafia, and accused the police of not acting on the FIR he had filed before his death. On the complaint of a family member, the police lodged a murder case against five people at the Kasna police station. On 2 May, the AAP demanded a probe in the alleged murder, and also asked the state government to reprimand the police for their alleged laxity. Two days later, the AAP members organised a candle march in Greater Noida, and shouted slogans against the police. They condemned the alleged police apathy, and threatened to intensify their stir if no arrests were made in the case.

Investigation and arrest

Immediately after staging his own death, Sharma travelled to Bangalore by train. Subsequently, he assumed a new identity as "Nitin Sharma" and shaved his head. He managed to get a job at the Honda plant in Narsapur (Kolar district, Karnataka), with the help of forged marksheets and past work experience. Meanwhile, Honda paid 2,000,000 to Sharma's family. The police also found Preeti, and the two were brought to Noida. He admitted that he had murdered a homeless man to stage his own death.