19-year-old man held for killing 20-year-old woman in northeast Delhi

The accused told police he started following the woman on social media and they eventually entered into a relationship

Police have arrested a 19-year-old man for the “premeditated” murder of the 20-year-old woman who was shot dead in northeast Delhi’s GTB Enclave on Monday night.

Accused Mohammed Rizwan. (HT Photo)

The accused was identified as Mohammed Rizwan, a resident of Sunder Nagri. He was arrested from Karnal in Haryana on Wednesday night.

Interrogation found that he was enraged with the woman’s friendship with another man, which led him to procure a pistol to kill her, Sanjay Kumar Sain, additional commissioner of police (crime), said.

The weapon was procured two days before the murder, police said.

“The accused said that he saw the woman with a man in the locality and warned her to end the friendship with the other man. The two often had arguments on the matter,” the officer said.

“Two days prior to the incident, he procured a country-made pistol through a friend. On the evening of the incident, he asked her to meet him at Kodia Colony’s gate at around 8pm. He claimed to be intoxicated at the time,” ACP Sain said, adding that the meeting followed an argument between the two. At around 10pm on Monday, the woman was found dead with two gunshot wounds.

“When the two had met, the woman refused to pay heed to Rizwan’s warnings. In a fit of rage, Rizwan shot her dead and fled. He said he handed over the weapon to a friend after the murder. Further, he had cut contact with his family and stopped all activity on social media to evade arrest,” the officer said.

A resident of Sunder Nagri, Rizwan told police that he met the woman about three months ago in Anand Gram area, where he was working as a welder at a construction site. He had started following her on social media and they eventually entered into a relationship, police said.

The victim had been living at Leprosy Colony in Nand Nagri with her sister, a nurse at a private hospital in Dilshad Colony, since their mother died of cancer a month ago.

Their father had passed away several years ago due to illness.

“On Monday night, she had dinner and left the house. I was on duty at the hospital. Around midnight, my daughter called me to say she hadn’t returned home,” the sister said.

The accused was nabbed from Karnal on Wednesday night.

“Acting on a tip-off that Rizwan was in Karnal, Haryana, we reached there and saw him near an eatery wearing the same clothes he was wearing on the night of the murder as seen in the CCTV footage. He was arrested from the spot late on Wednesday night,” Sain added.

Police officers said that they are yet to recover the weapon used in the crime.