Mumbai: An upcoming model, Swatantrapal Singh, was on Friday arrested here for murdering his friend and for his suspected involvement in human trafficking, the police said.

Swatantrapal killed his friend Vikramjit Singh, 25, for not honouring his committment of sending him to Canada to work in film units there. He has confessed to the crime, Joint Police Commisioner (crime) Rakesh Maria told reporters here.

Swantantrpal, 25, had promised to send Vikramjit to Canada for a commission of Rs.700,000 and had taken an advance of Rs.150,000. Maria said the police would also investigate the larger ramifications of human trafficking connected with the case. Vikramjit's body, wrapped in a blanket, was found by the police on Thursday morning outside Joggers' Park in Andheri, northwest Mumbai.

Both Swatantrapal and Vikramjit originally belong to Amritsar, Punjab. Swatantrapal also worked as an assistant director for a forthcoming Punjabi movie "Mr. Singh". He has featured in a few Punjabi music videos as well. In April, the duo went to Punjab for a film shoot and while working on it Swantantrapal asked Vikramjit to accompany him to Mumbai.

On Thursday morning, the two had an argument and a fight. An angry Swantantrapal whipped out a mutton knife and slashed Vikramjit's neck, Maria said. He then covered his friend's face with plastic bags and wrapped his body in a blanket, and dumped it in a remote spot near Joggeers' Park, the police officer added.

Since Vikramjit's PAN card was found on his body, the police managed to trace and contact his family. They said Swatantrapal had told them that the victim had left for Canada, and gave his number.

The police used a decoy Punjab registered cell number to engage him in a conversation and made him agree to a meeting. A trap was laid and Swatantrapal was nabbed. During interrogation, he broke down and confessed to his crime, Maria said.

Source : IANS