4 minors held for killing man, injuring another over Instagram post

The minors are between 15 and 17 years old. They and the victims are from the same neighbourhood and knew each other, police said

Four minors were apprehended on Sunday for stabbing a 19-year-old man to death and seriously injuring a 21-year-old man in Khirki Extension, south Delhi on Saturday, police said. The minors told police that they attacked the victims because the latter had posted objectionable comments on their Instagram posts.

Police found CCTV footage of the four boys attacking the victims. (PTI File Photo/representational)

The apprehended minors are between 15 and 17 years old. They and the victims are from the same neighbourhood and knew each other, police said.

In the early hours of Saturday, Vivek Gupta, 19, and Aman Gupta, 21, who worked in local restaurants, were returning home when the four boys attacked them with knives, police said. Vivek was killed on the spot, and Aman was critically wounded. Around 2 AM, locals discovered the two lying in a pool of blood on the road and called the police, said officers. The two were rushed to a hospital, where Vivek was declared dead at 2.25 AM, police said. Aman is currently undergoing treatment at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, police said.

Police found CCTV footage of the four boys attacking the victims. Police found that after attacking the victims, the four minors robbed a nearby food delivery executive of his bike. Eyewitnesses said that the boys were blood-stained and carrying knives, police said.

During interrogation, the boys - who have several previous criminal involvements - allegedly told police that they believed that Vivek was a member of a rival gang and had demeaned them on Instagram comments, so they attacked him. “They took the delivery executive’s scooter because they were tired of running,” an investigator said.