Advocate murdered with sword in east Delhi, 4 of family held

Police said the attack happened due to a fight between the two families because of ‘electricity theft’ from a temple outside the accused’s house. However, the victim’s family denied this and said the accused attacked them because they wanted to ‘maintain supremacy in the area’

A 33-year-old advocate was stabbed to death with a sword allegedly by his neighbour, while his father and brother sustained injuries in Trilokpuri, east Delhi, on Wednesday, Delhi Police officers said on Friday, adding that four members of a family were held for the murder.

The incident was caught on a CCTV camera. The footage purportedly shows the accused running behind the deceased, holding a sword. (Representational image)

Police said the attack happened due to a fight between the two families because of “electricity theft” from a temple outside the accused’s house. However, the victim’s family denied this and said the accused attacked them because they wanted to “maintain supremacy in the area”.

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Apoorva Gupta said that the deceased was identified as Naresh Kumar alias Vikas, an advocate practicing in the Karkardooma court, and the injured were identified as his father Mahesh Kumar, 60, and brother Abhay, 31.

DCP Gupta said that three people, including the prime accused Surender Singh, 51, his wife Charanjeet Kaur, 45,and their sons Prem, 18 and an 16-year-old minor boy, were held in connection with the incident.

Police said that their control room received a call regarding the incident at 9pm on Wednesday. After reaching the spot, police found that the injured had already been taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. “The altercation escalated due to disagreement over the alleged theft of electricity from the temple. Mahesh’s family used to charge their EV scooter using the electricity from the temple, which Singhs objected to. This led to a physical confrontation. Vikas sustained a fatal stab wound on the lower chest. He was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital, where he succumbed,” the DCP said, adding that the two sides often fought.

Vikas’s younger brother Nagesh Kumar, 30, said that the victim was coming from the market after buying vegetables when Surender and his family started teasing and abusing him. “An argument took place between the two sides. Vikas called our father and YOUNGER brother for help. Surender then brought a sword from his house, and his sons and wife were also present. Surender started attacking my family with the sword,” Nagesh said.

The incident was caught on a CCTV camera. The footage purportedly shows the accused running behind the victim, holding a sword.

According to the victim’s family, Vikas had lodged several complaints against Surender at the Mayur Vihar police station in the last few weeks. Nagesh showed a copy of a complaint they made wherein they alleged they were “scared of the Singhs” and demanded action against them. “If police had acted against this man, my brother would have been alive,” he said.

DCP Gupta said they were verifying the complaints submitted by the victim and his family. However, a case was also registered against them earlier. “The two parties have been fighting and they have a long standing dispute. A case on charges of hurt was registered against the victims earlier. We are verifying the complaints they had given against the accused,” she said.

Police said that a case under sections 109(1),115(2), 118(1)(3)(5) of the BNS was registered and four accused were held.

Nagesh added that electricity theft was not the issue and Singh had often abused and threatened the family. “This family is aggressive. They used to fight with everyone in the neighbourhood. Singh wanted to rule over everyone which people objected to. Whoever raised their voice against him, he would start abusing and attacking them,” Nagesh alleged.