Delhi Crime News: An 18-year-old student from Delhi University's School of Open Learning (SOL) has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and strangling a woman friend to death before attempting to burn her body at Sanjay Van in south Delhi's Mehrauli, police said on Monday. The incident occurred on Sunday, they added.
Police said the accused had lured the victim, also 18 and a BA English (Honours) student at SOL, to the forested area. A resident of Jahangirpuri, she had left home in the morning for her classes but never returned.
"She had last informed her mother around noon that she would be back soon. When she failed to return, her family began searching for her," a senior police officer said.
In the evening, the complainant received a call from the father of the accused, Arshkrit Singh, informing her that his son was attacked with a knife at Sanjay Van and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Pitampura.
The victim's parents went to Sanjay Van to look for their daughter, but could not find her. "Based on suspicion and past altercations between the victim and Arshkrit, the complainant alleged that he may have abducted her," the officer said. A missing-person case was registered at the Mehrauli police station on Monday, and a detailed investigation was launched, including the collection and analysis of CCTV footage. "Singh, a first-year B.Com student in the SOL and a resident of Rani Bagh, was apprehended and interrogated. During sustained questioning, he confessed to the crime," the officer said.
The accused told police that he called the victim to Sanjay Van, led her to a secluded spot in the forest, and stabbed and strangled her to death. After the killing, he attempted to burn the body before fleeing the scene, police said. "He later went to a hospital for the treatment of minor injuries sustained during the attack," the officer said, adding that police found the charred body of the victim from Sanjay Van. A mobile crime team and forensic experts visited the crime scene and collected exhibits. Subsequently, the provisions for murder and destruction of evidence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were added to the FIR. The weapon of offence was also found at the instance of the accused.
Police are investigating the motive behind the crime, which seems to have arisen from a previous dispute. The accused’s father sells electrical equipment in Rani Bagh. The body has been sent for postmortem, and further investigation is ongoing, the officer said.
According to the PTI report, the accused had doubts that the victim had an affair with someone.
"The accused, who is in custody, is showing no remorse. We are questioning him, but he is completely mum over the entire matter," the source said, as quoted by PTI.
Family members of the victim have alleged that the accused was stalking her for the last two to three months. The victim's sister said she was a student of BA English (Honours) and was also learning the Korean language. "The accused was stalking her for the last two or three months. We had even warned him to stop stalking her. He continued to harass her every day. He used to follow my sister to our home and had gained access to all her social-media handles, besides her e-mail, based on which he used to locate her live location," she said.
She said her sister left the house at around 8:10 am on Sunday. "The accused took her to Sanjay Van in Mehrauli. We got to know that he grabbed my sister's neck and stabbed her multiple times. He set her ablaze by putting petrol on her. We demand immediate justice and capital punishment for the accused," she said. We only got to know about her when we received a call from the father of the accused, who told us that my sister had attacked his son with a knife. We went to the Mehrauli police station in the evening and got a missing report lodged, after which police formed multiple teams and launched a search operation at Sanjay Van," she added.
The victim’s father told reporters that she was their younger daughter. He explained that she was on her way to college when she received a message from the accused, sent from a different number. According to police and CCTV footage, the accused arrived at the crime scene around 8:30 am, while his daughter reached there at approximately 9:45 am. The accused was seen leaving the park around 12:45 pm.
He said he watched the entire CCTV footage captured till 4 pm, and his daughter was not seen coming out of the park. "When she did not return, we launched a search operation. Along with police teams, we searched around four to five parks for my daughter. As it was raining, we had to return by 8 pm. On Monday, we got to know about her death. We found her in a burnt condition on Monday morning," he said.