Swift action by Doon Police led to arrests in murder case: Dobhal

3 held for Doon youth’s murder over Rs 2.5 lakh dispute
my uttarakhand news Bureau
Dehradun, 22 Feb: The main accused involved in a sensational murder case related to murder of a young man from Doon have finally been arrested by the Dehradun Police.
In this regard, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dehradun, Pramendra Dobhal briefed the media regarding the case. He informed that the three accused persons who executed the crime have been arrested. He shared that the investigation has revealed that the offence had been committed over a financial dispute, and following the murder, the accused had transported the body in a taxi driven by their associate and disposed of it in the forests of Chidiyapur (Haridwar). The taxi driver had earlier been arrested by the police, and on his identification, the body of the deceased was recovered from the forests of Chidiyapur.
According to Dobhal, on 11 February, Sant Ram Dhiman, a resident of Shastri Nagar, Vasant Vihar, lodged a report at Police Station Vasant Vihar that his 28-year-old son, Digambar Dhiman, had left home on 9 February 2026 without informing anyone and was missing since. During the investigation into the missing person’s case, it was revealed that Digambar Dhiman had attended a scheduled court hearing on 9 February 2026 in connection with a case registered at Police Station Vasant Vihar and had informed his family that he would return home after receiving the next date of hearing. However, he did not return. It further emerged that some of his associates, with whom he frequently consumed liquor, had also been missing from their respective homes since the day of his disappearance.
During the course of investigation, the police received information that on the night of 9 February 2026, the missing person and his associates had travelled together in a taxi. Acting on this input, the police gathered details of the suspected vehicle and on 17 February, the Police managed to trace the taxi. Its driver, Rajnandan, son of Manmohan Thakur, a resident of New Patel Nagar, Dehradun, was taken into custody and interrogated. Upon sustained questioning, he disclosed that on the night of 9 February, the associates of the missing person had hired his taxi and transported a body wrapped in a blanket to the forests of Chidiyapur, where they dumped it. On the basis of his identification, the police team recovered the body of Digambar Dhiman from the forests of Chidiyapur and arrested the taxi driver.
Based on the statements and written complaint submitted by Sant Ram, the father of the deceased, the report was converted into a criminal case. Accordingly, a case was registered at Police Station Vasant Vihar as FIR No. 30/26 under Sections 103(1), 238(1), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS0 against the accused Hemant Semwal, Adil, Sanju and others. During interrogation, facts emerged that Digambar Dhiman had been murdered in a room located in C-Block, Race Course. Consequently, the investigation was transferred to Police Station Nehru Colony.
Considering the gravity of the offence, separate police teams were constituted under the directions of the SSP to secure the arrest of the accused. The teams conducted extensive enquiries, activated the informer network, and utilised surveillance to track down the suspects. Continuous raids were carried out at all the probable locations. Based on specific information received from the informers, the police team apprehended three accused persons, namely Hemant Semwal, Sanju and Adil, on 21 February 2026 near ISBT on Haridwar Bypass Road. On their identification, a steel rod, an iron hammer used in the commission of the offence, and the shoes of the deceased were recovered from a dry riverbed under a bridge near Nepali Farm.
During the interrogation, the accused claimed that they were embroiled in a financial dispute with the deceased. Digambar Dhiman had allegedly taken Rs 2.5 lakhs from them and was not returning the money. On 9 February, the accused came to know that Digambar would be attending a court hearing on that day. Hemant contacted him and called him to his residence in C-Block, Race Course. There, the three accused consumed intoxicants along with Digambar. When they demanded the return of their money and he allegedly refused, they assaulted him with an iron rod, hammer and screwdriver kept in the house, allegedly with the intention of torturing him. He sustained grievous injuries and died due to excessive bleeding.
After the incident, Hemant summoned his acquaintance, taxi driver Ramnandan, to his room and informed him of the occurrence, promising him Rs 15,000 in exchange for assistance in disposing of the body. Thereafter, the four accused wrapped the body in a blanket, placed it in the boot of the vehicle, and drove towards Haridwar. On the way, they threw the iron rod, hammer and the shoes of the deceased from a bridge into a river ahead of Nepali Farm. They then carried the body to the forests of Chidiyapur and buried it in sand near a canal.
The arrested accused have been identified as Hemant Kumar, son of Jagdish Prasad Semwal, resident of New Basti, C-Block, Race Course, Police Station Nehru Colony, Dehradun, aged 37 years; Adil, son of Abid Hussain, resident of New Basti, C-Block, Race Course, Police Station Nehru Colony, Dehradun, aged 38 years; and Vaibhav Bhatt alias Sanju, son of Pintu Bhatt, resident of New Basti, C-Block, Race Course, Police Station Nehru Colony, Dehradun, aged 25 years.
The recovered articles include the iron rod and hammer used in the offence, and the shoes of the deceased. Meanwhile, the police records show that Hemant Semwal has previously been booked in Case No 9/22 under Sections 147, 148, 323, 326, 452, 307 and 34 of the IPC at Kotwali Nagar, Dehradun, and in Case No 623/25 under Sections 8/21/29 of the NDPS Act at Kotwali Patel Nagar, Dehradun. Adil has also been booked in the same two cases. Vaibhav Bhatt has been named in Case No 623/25 under Sections 8/21/29 of the NDPS Act at Kotwali Patel Nagar, Dehradun.
The arrests were made by a joint team comprising personnel from Police Station Basant Vihar, Police Station Nehru Colony, and the Special Operations Group.