Agra: When a police patrol from Agra’s Etmadpur station came upon a car parked on the service road alongside the Kanpur Highway, playing loud music with the engine running, they assumed it was a “Car-o-Bar” party.
Instead, they found a body lying in a pool of blood in the driver’s seat. The man’s neck was slashed, and he held a blood-splattered knife in his left hand.
The deceased was identified as Manu Aggarwal, 40, a rice-and-pulses businessman in Motiganj.
Aggarwal, who is survived by three children and wife Preeti, was in deep depression from a chronic ailment, family members said.
Other businessmen in the area, however, have urged the police not to treat it as a suicide, questioning whether a man can slit his own throat. They believe there was someone else in the car who may have murdered him.
The police were initially treating it as a death by suicide, but have not ruled out murder. Cops are scouring the car for more clues as they wait for Agarwal’s relatives to give a statement.
Additional Police Commissioner Keshav Chaudhary said Aggarwal lived in Sitaram Colony in Balkeshwar. His body was discovered by the patrol around 8.30 pm Tuesday near the Budhiya Ka Tal monument. The car’s engine was running, and its lights and air-conditioning were on, the officer said.
Aggarwal’s family said he left his shop at 6 pm that evening and was headed home, but did not arrive.