An 18-year-old girl, who had taken her Class XII Board exams this year and was preparing for the Jawaharlal Nehru University entrance exam, was shot dead at her house in Munirka here on Friday, allegedly by a distant relative who wanted to marry her against the wishes of her parents.
The girl’s father has alleged that the relative in question, his nephew’s brother-in-law, Subhash, often stalked the girl and had threatened to harm her in the past.
The victim, Sakshi, was alone at her house in Buddh Vihar at the time of the incident. Her father Pritam, who works as a plumber in JNU, and mother Rani, who is a domestic help, had gone to work.
The neighbours, who were aware of the incident, said it was around 10-40 a.m. that a young man came to the girl’s house. The two were engaged in a conversation and after a while, he pulled out a firearm and shot the girl in the chest from a close range. Almost immediately after shooting the girl, the accused is learnt to have paced away towards the Munirka Main Road.
Soon after, the victim’s aunt along with her daughter-in-law (Subhash’s sister), both of whom were in a room next to where the victim was shot, came to Sakshi’s room where they found her lying in a pool of blood. In the meantime, a neighbour Bhisham, who had heard the commotion, made a call to the Police Control Room around 11 a.m.The police after reaching the spot took the victim to the nearby Safdarjung Hospital where she was declared brought dead. The girl’s parents were informed and the smaller lane which leads to the victim’s house was cordoned off. Senior police officers and several police teams, including crime and forensics, visited the spot.
The area where Sakshi lived is close to the main gate of JNU and comprises small rooms taken on rent by students.
The news of Sakshi’s killing stunned the neighbours who described her as a cheerful person. A teacher of the government school in R.K. Puram, where she was studying, described her as a “sincere student’’.
Sources said Subhash was arrested late on Friday night.
