Three days after Delhi resident Ria Gautam was stabbed to death near her home, her assailant and two of his friends were arrested in Mumbai late on Friday. The city police’s Crime Branch, which arrested main accused Adil Khan, 23, from a relative’s residence in Behrampada, Bandra, said Khan showed little remorse for his crime. They said he calmly recounted how he had lain in wait for two days for a chance to kill Ria, 21.
Police said the murder took place in Mansarovar Park, New Delhi, where Ria stayed with her family. Around 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, she had stepped out for groceries when Khan accosted her around 100 metres from her house.
Police said according to eyewitnesses, Ria and Khan had an argument, during which he stabbed her several times, leaving her bleeding even as people stood by watching. She was taken to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, where she died of severe blood loss early on Thursday.
City police officers said the Delhi Police had informed them that Khan had a relative in Mumbai, and sought their assistance in checking if he was holed up there. An officer with the Crime Branch’s Unit IX, which had been assigned the task, said the Delhi Police had a contact number for the relative, using which the location and address were traced to Behrampada.
The house was placed under surveillance and local informants were alerted. He added, “One of the informers told us on Friday night that three strangers were staying at Khan’s relative’s residence since Thursday night.”
The trio was picked up and taken to the Unit IX office and questioned, and their photos were shared with Delhi Police, who confirmed that one of them was Khan. The other two were identified as Junaid Ansari, 19, and Fazil Ansari, 18, but their roles in the murder are not clear.
An officer who questioned the accused said, “Khan showed no remorse when he was picked up. He told us that he loved Ria and suspected she was getting close to another man, which had led to fights between him and Ria. He also said that he lay in wait armed with a dagger for two days near her house before he finally saw her on Wednesday and stabbed her.”
DCP (Detection) Dilip Sawant added, “We have handed over the three accused to Delhi Police.”
Escape plan fails
Sources said Khan had planned the crime in detail and had discussed the plan with Ansari and the juvenile. He had visited Ansari and the juvenile in Aligarh where they stay and brought them to Delhi, sources said. They purchased a knife from Chhota Bazaar in Shahdara in Delhi. Khan tasked his associates with conducting a recee of the area and informing him whenever she comes out of her house. After killing Ria, the trio boarded a bus to Aligarh and got down two km ilometres from Delhi and took another bus to Mathura, sources said.
From Mathura, they boarded a bus to Mumbai. At Baroda, Khan switched on Ria’s phone, giving the police a vital lead.
Police apathy
Ria’s family has placed the blame squarely on the police, whom they had approached in the past with a complaint of stalking and harassment by Adil. The police’s alleged inaction gave him the opportunity to first flee the city and then return to kill her, they said.
While the family said the complaint was submitted in March, police said it was latei n April. Over two months had passed between the date of complaint and the day of the murder, with the police not registering an FIR during this period.
