In separate incidents, two people killed in central Delhi

According to police, a 25-year-old man was killed in Baljeet Nagar near central Delhi’s Patel Nagar over ₹150, while a 22-year-old man was killed in Chauhan Bangar in northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad because he refused to give his shoes to the alleged attacker.

New Delhi: Two men were killed on Sunday following fights over trivial issues in central and northeast Delhi, police said, adding they apprehended two minor boys in connection with one of the murder cases while the suspect in the second case was on the run.

Murders over trivial issues or sudden provocation have been a cause of concern for Delhi Police as it is the second-highest reason for murder in the national capital in recent years. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to police, a 25-year-old man was killed in Baljeet Nagar near central Delhi’s Patel Nagar over ₹150, while a 22-year-old man was killed in Chauhan Bangar in northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad because he refused to give his shoes to the alleged attacker, his friend.

On Sunday night, the Jafrabad police station received a call from Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital about one Shahrukh Khan, a resident of Chauhan Bangar near Jafrabad, who was brought dead with a stab wound in his thigh. A case of murder was registered and investigation started, deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said.

Police said they learnt that Khan was attacked with a knife by his friend, one Salman (identified by his first name), 22, following an altercation over a pair of shoes that Khan was wearing. They added Salman went on the run after stabbing Khan, who lived with his mother and five siblings in Chauhan Bangar. Khan worked in a massage parlour in Goa for six months a year and in a metal cutting unit in northeast Delhi the remaining six months, police said, adding Salman is the brother of the unit’s owner.

Khan’s family told police that he had to leave for Goa on Monday. On Sunday evening, he went out with Salman. They were in Gali Number 10 in Chauhan Bangar, when Salman asked Khan to give him the pair of shoes he was wearing, a police officer aware of the case said.

“Khan refused saying that he had to leave for Goa on Monday wearing the shoes. An altercation broke out between them over the issue and Salman stabbed him in the thigh and fled. By the time Khan was rushed to the hospital, he had died due to excessive bleeding,” the officer said.

While the police were looking into Khan’s murder, another murder took place over a petty issue in Baljeet Nagar. The 25-year-old victim, Arun Panchal alias Raja, was allegedly assaulted with iron rods and stabbed to death by three teenagers because he refused to part with ₹150, police said.

On Sunday, Panchal and his friends were playing near Gaushala Park, when three boys arrived and grabbed money from the pockets of Panchal and his friends. While they were leaving, Panchal followed them and asked them to return ₹150 that they had taken from him, police said.

“The three boys became angry and assaulted Panchal with rods before stabbing him in the chest. Panchal was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” a police officer, who did not want to be named, said.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Shweta Chauhan said, “There was a quarrel between him and three persons. We have solved the case.”

On Tuesday, police said they apprehended two of the boys and added they were probing if the boys were associated with a local gang that bullied people and was involved in petty crimes.

Murders over trivial issues or sudden provocation have been a cause of concern for Delhi Police as it is the second-highest reason for murder in the national capital in recent years. According to Delhi Police’s annual crime report of 2021, of the 459 murder case registered in that year, at least 137, or 30%, took place after sudden provocation or over trivial issues. Personal enmity and disputes accounted for 36% of the murders in 2021.

On September 3, a 40-year-old man was murdered by his 18-year-old neighbour in west Delhi’s Mohan Garden after a brief scuffle which began after a plate of momos that the latter was eating fell when the former brushed past him near a local kiosk.