Delivery agent killed in Lucknow over Rs 1 lakh phone delivery, body dumped in canal

A 30-year-old delivery agent, Bharat Prajapati, was brutally murdered in Lucknow on September 23 after being lured to deliver smartphones worth Rs 1 lakh. The accused, Gajanan, and his accomplice Akash, killed Prajapati and later disposed of his body in the Indira Canal, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Shashank Singh.

The delivery, which included Google Pixel and Vivo smartphones, was ordered from Flipkart by another suspect, Himanshu Kanaujia, using the cash-on-delivery (COD) payment option. Kanaujia, with Gajanan and Akash, had planned the robbery, targeting Bharat for the valuable smartphones. When Bharat failed to return home after the delivery, his family reported him missing on September 25.

Police launched an investigation by tracing Bharat’s call records, which led them to Gajanan's phone number. Akash was soon arrested and, during questioning, confessed to the crime. He revealed that the duo had attacked and strangled Bharat after luring him to Kanaujia’s home in the Chinhat area. After the murder, they stuffed his body in a sack and dumped it in the Indira Canal.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has been deployed to search for Bharat's body in the canal. While Akash and Kanaujia are in custody, Gajanan remains at large, with police actively pursuing a manhunt to apprehend him.