College student stabbed to death in fight between two families in west Delhi

Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west), said three suspects have been arrested so far and a search is on for four others, including the man who allegedly stabbed the victim. The officer said a case of murder and house trespassing has been registered at the Vikaspuri police station.

A college student was stabbed to death on Sunday night in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri during a fight between two families that began after “rumours of a relationship” between his minor sister and a 17-year-old boy, police said.

The officer said a case of murder and house trespassing has been registered at the Vikaspuri police station. (Representative image)

Some relatives of the dead man’s family also alleged that his 15-year-old cousin was being harassed by the boy and his friends, but the police refuted these allegations. “We have repeatedly spoken to the victim’s family, but they have neither mentioned any harassment, nor given any such complaint to us,” said a senior police officer, who didn’t want to be identified, said.

Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west), said three suspects have been arrested so far and a search is on for four others, including the man who allegedly stabbed the victim. The officer said a case of murder and house trespassing has been registered at the Vikaspuri police station.

The boy and girl were neighbours in a village in Vikaspuri and belonged to different religions. “Recently, rumours began that the boy had proposed to the girl, who had turned it down. The news spread fast and reached the girl’s father. On Sunday evening, he confronted the boy and asked him to keep away from his daughter. An argument ensued during which the girl’s father slapped the boy,” an investigator said.

This was in contrast to the sequence of events described by some relatives of the girl. “The girl’s father confronted the boy when he got to know that he and his friends had intercepted her on the street and harassed her,” a relative said.

Police said the boy decided to get back at the girl’s father and sought the help of his relatives, most of whom were attending his stepbrother’s engagement at a banquet hall in nearby Tilak Nagar. “A dozen of his relatives forcibly entered our house around 10pm and began beating up the girl’s father,” the relative claimed.

The girl’s 18-year-old cousin, who lived in the same neighbourhood, was also there at that time. “The cousin intervened and tried to save his uncle, but one of the assaulters stabbed him in the neck. The injured man was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared brought dead by doctors,” the police investigator said.

The assailants fled the spot, but the police arrested three of them by Monday morning.