Man killed in Delhi after people suspect him of theft

Nearly 10 days after the disrobed body of a man with multiple injuries was found on the roadside near a drain at Shahpur-Alipur Road in Alipur area of outer district, the outer-north district police on Wednesday said they had solved the blind murder case after arresting two suspects.

Nearly 10 days after the disrobed body of a man with multiple injuries was found on the roadside near a drain at Shahpur-Alipur Road in Alipur area of outer district, the outer-north district police on Wednesday said they had solved the blind murder case after arresting two suspects. The two along with their two associated had allegedly lynched the man to death on suspicion that he was a thief and was attempting to steal wheels of their goods carrying three-wheelers.

Two men have been arrested for the murder, said Delhi Police (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

More than 50 CCTV cameras installed in the radius of around 2 kilometres of the spot, where the body was discovered around 9 am on September 24, were scanned and scores of locals were examined to gather clues regarding identity of the deceased and his alleged killers. The two arrested men have been identified as Ranjeet Singh and Rambalak alias Ramu, both in their thirties, said deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Devesh Kumar Mahla.

“The remaining two suspects, identified as Dinesh and Anil alias Lambu, are still absconding. Our teams are conducting raids to nab them,” said DCP Mahla.

The four suspects had assaulted the man with fist and blows apart from attacking him with stones, bricks and plastic pipes near a dhaba at Budhpur in Alipur. After the man, later identified as 26-year-old Nazir (single name), died due to the assault, the four men allegedly bundled him in a tempo (goods carrying three-wheeler) and dumped his body near the drain at Shahpur-Alipur Road, nearly a kilometer away from the spot where he was lynched to death, the police said.

“We have recovered the tempo that was used to ferry the body apart from the plastic pipes that the suspects used to assault and kill Nazir,” added the DCP.

DCP Mahla said that around 9 am on September 24, the Alipur police station received a call and the caller informed that the body of an unidentified man was lying on the roadside near the drain at Shahpur-Alipur Road. A police team reached there and found that the upper clothes of the deceased were missing. His autopsy report showed multiple injury marks and suggested that he may have been assaulted to death. A case of murder was registered and four teams were formed to identify the suspect and solve the murder case, he said.

“One team scanned CCTV cameras while the other focused on identification of the deceased. His photographs were shown to people living in nearby neighbourhoods. Two days later, the victim was identified by his two siblings living in Alipur. The other two teams identified the suspects through local enquiry and technical surveillance. We caught two suspects between Monday and Tuesday,” Mahla said.

Interrogation of the arrested men, DCP Mahla said, revealed that they caught Nazir wandering around their parked tempos late in the night of September 24. As they had earlier seen Nazir stealing wheels of parked vehicles, they thought he was attempting to steal wheels of their vehicles as well.

“They assaulted and killed him on suspicion of theft,” added the DCP.