Police on Sunday morning, recovered the body of the auto driver, reported missing since the past two days. The victim identified as Pradip went missing along with the auto bearing registration number NL07F-4237 on Saturday night. The dead body was later found around Xelhoshe village (Niuland). Dimapur police informed that the victim had been strangulated then stabbed with a sharp weapon on his abdomen. Preliminary inquiry indicated that the victim had been murdered elsewhere and his body dumped at the site where it was found. Offering condolences to the bereaved family, Dimapur Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union strongly condemned the incident saying auto drivers have become soft targets of miscreants of late. Appealing to the district administration and law enforcing agencies to leave no stone unturned in nabbing the culprits, the union also urged them to speed up earlier cases involving murder of auto drivers -Mukesh Singh (August 29, 2010), Vetsuzo Veyie (September 8, 2010) and Balaji Nath Sahani (January 3, 2010). Meanwhile, as mark solidarity to the deceased, the union informed all auto drivers to remain off road from 6 am till 6 pm on February 16. The Union also warned that it will not be held responsible if any auto(s) defied its directive .
