Delhi: 23-yr-old stalker stabs woman to death; arrested

The accused allegedly told investigators that he had been in a relationship with the woman for five years, a claim that the victim’s family denied.

A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing to death a 20-year-old woman he had been stalking, police said. The victim’s family told authorities that the accused had been harassing her for months after she reportedly rejected his advances.

The victim’s family, however, rejected the claim of a relationship, insisting he had been stalking her for months without her consent. (File photo)

A senior police officer said the woman, a high school dropout, was a resident of Nand Nagri, while the accused, who works as a school sweeper, lived in Trilokpuri.

Police said a distress call reached their control room around 10.30am reporting a stabbing in Nand Nagri’s D-Block. Officers who rushed to the scene were informed that the 20-year-old woman had been rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.

“A case on charges of murder was registered. Forensic teams were called, and the body was sent for postmortem,” the officer said cited above said, asking not to be identified.

The officer said that the accused was identified and arrested within hours with the help of technical and human surveillance.

During questioning, the accused allegedly told investigators that he had been in a relationship with the woman for five years, a claim that the victim’s family denied.

“He said he could not accept the breakup and tried to win her back. There were multiple fights between them, and when she repeatedly told him she would not get together with him, he decided to kill her,” the officer said.

According to the police, he intercepted her near a market close to her home and stabbed her multiple times in the torso.

The victim’s family, however, rejected the claim of a relationship, insisting he had been stalking her for months without her consent. “This man had been stalking her. He used to call her repeatedly and even stop her on the way. She shared the problem with her parents, who then reached out to his family,” said her cousin.

The cousin added that the accused’s maternal grandmother lived next to the victim’s house, giving him frequent excuses to enter the neighbourhood.

“On the morning of the attack, the woman told her mother she was going out to buy samosas for breakfast. She never returned home,” the cousin said.

The family learned of the killing only after the accused allegedly shouted about the murder in the street. “After killing my sister, he shouted that he had killed her. Riya’s mother ran, only to see her bloodied body,” the cousin said, her voice breaking.

Police have registered a murder case under section 103 of BNS and are investigating the circumstances leading up to the attack.