Chandra Mohan Sharma at the Noida police press meet on Thursday.

GREATER NOIDA: RTI activist and Aam Admi Party member , Chandra Mohan Sharma , whose ‘body’ was found charred beyond recognition in his burnt car three months ago, is indeed alive. The 38-year-old was produced by Noida cops on Thursday at a press meet, where police said he had not only faked his own death, but also killed a mentally unstable man and put him behind the wheels of his car before setting it alight with three litres of petrol. He has been charged with murder.The police claimed he had done all this with the help of his wife’s brother, whom he had convinced that his wife would get Rs 36 lakh and a job at Hero Honda, where he worked, in case it could be made out that he had died.Chandra Mohan, if the police are to be believed, did this because he was unhappy in his marriage and wanted to live with a 25-year-old woman. So, the night he faked his death, he took a train to Bangalore where he started living under an assumed identity. A month later, he came to Delhi and took the woman along with him to Bangalore.That was when the plot started to unravel. The woman was reported as missing. So, police started investigations. Meanwhile, Chandra Mohan reportedly found the going tough, as he was living hand to mouth in Bangalore. So, he reportedly wanted the woman out of his life, and made three calls to the woman’s family from three PCOs, saying she had been spotted. The police then formed three teams to track down the callers and located Chandra Mohan, ending his elaborate charade.Chandra Mohan, however, inists he is being framed. His wife, Savita Sharma, has also jumped to his defence, claiming both her husband and brother are being framed. The brother, who has been named a co-accused, is now missing.According to the cops, they got to Chandra Mohan after they started investigating the ‘abduction’ of the woman who was living with him. The case was lodged in Greater Noida on June 7, a day after the woman went missing.“The woman’s family told us that they had received three calls, on August 9, 12 and 13, from three different numbers, informing them that their daughter had been spotted at Tirupati, Balaji, and that they should come and take her back,” said Preetinder Singh , senior superintendent of police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar. “Three teams were formed and given the task of tracking down the numbers. The calls were traced to different PCOs in Bangalore,” Singh said.Police teams were then sent to Bangalore. After locating the PCOs, and studying the CCTV footage in the area, it was found that a man wearing a Honda uniform had made the calls. “We traced the uniform to the two-wheeler Honda factory located at Narsapur Industrial area in Kolar district,” Singh said. “Our teams found that the description of the man matched that of Nitin Sharma, a resident of Haryana. When we met him, we found he had a tattoo on his arm which said ‘Chandra Mohan, Savita, Bunty’,” the SSP said.Having confirmed that they had met Chandra Mohan Sharma, the police then found the woman in Kolar area, where the two were staying, and brought them back to Noida.The police said that initial interrogation of Chandra Mohan has revealed that on May 1 – the day he was found ‘dead’ -- before he left the Honda factory in Greater Noida, he called his brother-in-law Videsh from the landline at 11 pm and asked him to come to Ansal Plaza at Greater Noida. From there they picked up a man, whom Sharma had identified two days back. “This man was mentally unsound and the two lured him into Sharma’s car and strangled him,” Singh said. “They later put him in the driving seat, set the central locking on, while leaving the rear door open, and then set the car on fire with three litres of petrol, which Chandra Mohan had bought on April 30 from a petrol pump in Tuglakpur,” Singh said.Videsh then reportedly dropped Chandra Mohan at Pari Chowk in his motorcycle, from where Chandra Mohan went to the New Delhi railway station to catch a train to Bangalore. On June 7, Chandra Mohan returned to Delhi and took his woman friend back with him, the police said. “During this time he changed his original mark-sheet, the name, date of birth and father’s name and took up a job at a Honda factory.”According to the police, Chandra Mohan’s brother-in-law helped him stage his own death because he convinced Videsh that his wife would get Rs 36 lakh from Honda after his death. She would also get a job with the company. Later, she also claimed Rs 3 lakh in life insurance.It seems what Chandra Mohan had not bargained for was the low paying job he managed to land in Bangalore. After a few days he decided to send his woman friend back to Greater Noida as they could not afford the lifestyle he wanted.His wife, however, is not buying the story. “The entire episode reeks of blackmail,” she told TOI. “I believe my husband could not have worked to this plan on his own. Besides the woman my husband was friendly with, there are more people involved,” Savita said. “I strongly believe the people I had named in the FIR are responsible and they forced my husband to stage his own death,” she said. “If the police try to shield the real culprits, I will take to the streets and fight for the truth to be revealed,” she added.The police said they are yet to conduct a detailed investigation into the case. “We have preserved the sample of the dead man and will ascertain his identity,” Singh said. “The role of others will also be investigated. We will also seek police remand of Chandra Mohan to interrogate him,” he added.