Two held for murdering shoe store owner in Batla House

Accused, identified as house painters, had worked at victim’s place last month

Two house painters were arrested for robbing and killing a 58-year-old man, a shoe store owner, the police said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Mehraj Alam, 32, and Taufiq, 21, stabbed the deceased, Islam Ahmad, in his shoe shop in Okhla’s Batla House area.

They stole his mobile phone with the intention of stealing over ₹40,000 he had in his online wallet, the police said. The two painters had earlier worked at the victim’s house on August 29 and 30.

Urged to reopen shop

Ahmad was returning home after closing his shop on Monday night when the duo met him on the pretext of buying shoes and urged him to reopen his shop. Seeing him alone, they stabbed him with a knife.

The police received a PCR call at 12.20 a.m. Ahmad was found lying on the road in an unconscious state with stab injuries on his neck. He was declared dead when taken to a hospital, the police said. A case under IPC Section 302 (murder) was registered.

During inquiry, Ahmad’s son told the police that a stranger had called him from his father’s phone with misleading information. The police put Ahmad’s phone on technical surveillance and traced it to Paharganj. The police said that 180 hotels and lodges were searched and the suspects were arrested.