3 Indian nationals held for compatriot’s killing

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Three Indian nationals were arrested here last Wednesday for the abduction-killing of a wealthy compatriot whose decomposing body was found in an irrigation canal in neighboring Isabela last week.

Senior Superintendent Jesus Manubay, Nueva Vizcaya police director, said his men cornered the three suspects at a police checkpoint along the national highway in nearby Solano town.

Manubay declined to identify them pending further investigation.

The arrest came after the Santiago City police, in a radio message, alerted other police units that a van, suspected to be the same one used in abducting 41-year-old Varinder Kumar Sharma, was monitored as heading south, passing through this province.

Manubay said it was not known who the passengers of the van were until policemen cornered the vehicle following a brief chase on the national highway from Bagabag town to Barangay Bascaran in Solano.

The three Indian nationals were eventually included in the list of suspects in the killing of Sharma, whose decomposing body was found in an irrigation canal in Angadanan, Isabela last Feb. 14, or five days after his reported abduction in San Isidro, Isabela.

Sharma’s family said he was carrying at least P200,000 cash, representing his collections for the day from loan-seekers, mostly local businessmen and government employees, when he disappeared.

Rosel Dizon, a staffer of Santiago City Mayor Jose Miranda, said Sharma was known in the city as a big-time money lender, who could even extend a loan of up to P1 million. – Charlie Lagasca