After brutal killing, Delhi murderer bragged about crime
Residents of Gali number 18 on Thursday claimed they saw the assailant, with blood-laden hands, smoking a cigarette and waving the knife.
The teenager who brutally stabbed to death a 17-year-old boy in a frenzied attack in north-east Delhi’s Welcome on Tuesday night, then bragged about the murder and brandished the blood-soaked knife, he used to commit the crime, at the residents of the area said on Thursday.
CCTV footage of the incident, which surfaced on Wednesday, shows the 16-year-old suspect dragging the victim’s limp body into a cramped bylane in Welcome, with houses on either side. He then begins relentlessly stabbing the side of the victim’s neck, his ears and face. He then pauses, appears to break into a hysterical dance for a few seconds, and then resumes to stab his victim.
Police said the suspect was apprehended within an hour of the incident. They did not reveal the victim’s name, arguing that he is a minor.
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Residents of Gali number 18, where the incident took place, on Thursday claimed they saw the assailant, with blood-laden hands, smoking a cigarette and waving the knife. “He was walking around and dancing, saying ‘maine maar diya (I killed him)’. He was heavily drunk,” said a 25-year-old resident, who asked to be named.
Shabnam Begum, 45, another resident, said though the crime took place in full view of several eyewitnesses, everyone was too scared to do anything. “People saw him stabbing the boy from their houses, but they were too scared to do anything because he threatened them. In fact, an aged man tried to rescue the victim, but the assailant ran after him, so the old man ran back to his house,” she said.
Another resident, 65, who did not want to be named, said, “We keep our doors shut because young men and boys get drunk in the streets and then rob people. If we ask them to not drink in front of our doors, they trouble us by beating on our doors at night.”
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Heena, 30, who declined to give her surname out of fear, said her 10-year-old daughter has to navigate these lanes every day to go to school. “Many people have left this neighbourhood because of crime. I too am looking for a flat in another area,” she said.
Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said, “This is a very densely populated area, which is why it’s prone to crime. We ensure heavy patrolling in the area to maintain law and order and prevent crime. There was no control room call made in this case, because police officials were patrolling close to the scene of crime and reached the spot immediately. The accused was apprehended quickly because officials were already present in the area and reacted swiftly.”
At her residence in Jafrabad, the victim’s mother, 45, demanded that the assailant be tried as an adult. “He deserves to be punished severely and should not come out in a few months and kill another person just because he is a minor. He should be tried as an adult,” she said.
The assailant’s mother, sitting at her one-room house in nearby Janta Mazdoor Colony, said she wants her son to be punished. “He should not come out of the observation home any time soon, and I have told the police the same,” the 35-year-old said. She also said that her son, who dropped out of school after Class 9, had been drinking heavily, and would force her to give him money.
The boy’s family also claimed that he was involved in a murder case around two years ago. However, the police did not confirm his involvement in another crime