Chandel murder: STF, Police cross swords for credit ( inside story)

27 Soon after the Hapur police arrested a sharp-shooter on Sunday in Noida's Gaurav Chandel murder case, both the Hapur and Noida police and Special Task Force (STF) of the state entered into a bitter fight to take credit for the arrest. The situation turned so bad that the police had to postpone a press briefing called to provide information about the arrest.

Hapur Police spokesperson Ajay Chaudhary on Sunday had already confirmed to that Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Suman was about to address media at 8 p.m. But the press conference was cancelled at the eleventh hour without giving any concrete reason.

According to sources, the police officials were asked to postpone the press meet after it was revealed that the Hapur Police had already confirmed the arrest of the sharp-shooter in the Gaurav Chandel murder case to the local media which Noida police and the SRF did not like. However, the Hapur Police could not provide any official information about the arrest.

However, when tried to contact SP Sanjeev Suman to know about the press conference, spokesperson Chaudhary received the call and said: "Sir is busy with work related to Gaurav Chandel murder case ... please speak to our Additional SP Sarvesh Kumar to know about the details".

When tried to contact Sarvesh Kumar to know why the press conference was cancelled, all calls and messages went unanswered.

Finally, at around 9.30 p.m., police spokesman Chaudhary told on phone that the press meet is being cancelled and he had no clear answer of when it will take place.

On January 6, Chandel, who was working as a regional manager in a multi-national company in Gurugram, went missing along with his car when he was returning home. On January 7, at around 4 a.m., the relatives found Chandel's body with bullet injuries on his head from backside.(Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan can be reached at sanjeev.c@.in)

( With inputs from IANS )