Four persons were arrested from Tughlakabad Extension on Sunday night in connection with the murder of a 24-year-old, who was robbed and stabbed in a park in south-east Delhi, the police said on Monday. The stabbing was reported on Saturday.
Surender (31), Sanjay (33), Pawan Kumar (23) and Ram Babu (21) were arrested following interrogation of over 70 people, the police said.
The accused allegedly accosted Naresh Kumar and his friend in Monkey Park, which is located in the forest, on Saturday and demanded their phones. When Naresh resisted, one of them stabbed him. All four fled the spot with the duo’s mobiles phones and other valuables.
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Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) Chinmoy Biswal said the accused were sitting atop the Tughlakabad Fort, which overlooks the forest and the park, when they spotted the victims enter the park.
“We have recovered the mobile phones belonging to the deceased and his friend, and her gold earrings from the accused,” he said.
Talking about the motives, Mr. Biswal said, “While Surender wanted to gift gold jewellery to his wife on her birthday, which fell on the same day as the incident, Sanjay needed the money to pay his lawyer.”
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“This was a blind case as there were no CCTV cameras. We picked up robbers and snatchers who had committed crimes with the same modus operandi. Then, we narrowed down on criminals living near the park. We zeroed in on Surender but he was missing from home. We also learnt that Sanjay, a Lucknow resident, was in the city to appear before a Magistrate at Saket court in connection with an old robbery case. We received a tip-off and all four were arrested,” said Mr. Biswal.
He added that Sanjay and some others had stabbed a boy in 2012 and robbed his mobile phone near Majeedia Hospital.