Paharganj killer says humiliation led to murders

Sonu Kumar, 22, was arrested on Sunday from Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district, a day after the bodies of the deceased were found with their throats slit at their house in Paharganj in central Delhi

A man has been arrested for allegedly killing his employer, a 35-year-old restaurant owner, and his eight-year-old son to avenge the repeated physical assaults and humiliation meted out to him, Delhi Police said on Monday.

The accused was booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. (FILE)

Sonu Kumar, 22, was arrested on Sunday from Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district, a day after the bodies of the deceased were found with their throats slit at their house in Paharganj in central Delhi, police said.

He had murdered the two on Saturday, three hours after he was humiliated by his employer for alleged theft, police said. He was booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

On Saturday, Kumar sneaked into the house of his employer, Anuj Kumar, around 3am, and hit him on his head twice with a stick while he was sleeping on the bed with his son. He then slit his throat with a knife, said deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Kumar Sain.

However, Anuj’s son, Ronak, woke up and began screaming, following which Kumar slit his throat too to prevent getting caught, DCP Sain added.

Anuj’s wife, five-year-old daughter and his mother were not at home at the time of the murders, police said.“Kumar has told us that he started working at Anuj’s restaurant and home, which are in the same building from October 7. Ten days later, on October 17, Anuj beat him up on the suspicion of trying to steal cash from his purse. Around Saturday midnight, Anuj beat him up again and humiliated him for the alleged theft. It enraged Kumar, who then decided to kill Anuj,” said an investigator, who asked not to be named.

The same night, Kumar got drunk before deciding to commit the murders. Police have recovered a bottle of alcohol from the deceased’s room.

“Killing the child was not part of his plan. But he did it as the boy woke up and started screaming,” the officer said, and added that Kumar damaged and dumped the CCTV camera installed in the building, changed his clothes, took Anuj’s cellphone, and fled by jumping off the first floor.

Anuj’s wife, Reema Devi, their daughter, Shanvi, and his mother Kalawati Devi, 65, had gone to Mohan Garden near Dwarka on Friday for performing a puja at their new home. The next day, they returned to their Paharganj house around 1.30pm and found the restaurant locked. They tried to contact Anuj but his phone was not reachable. They then arranged a ladder and Reema climbed onto their first floor flat, where she found the dead bodies, after which they informed the police.

“A police team reached and cordoned off the crime scene. A case of murder was registered and it was learnt that the family’s newly appointed employee was missing along with Anuj’s phone,” said DCP Sain.

Investigators said that Kumar was employed through a local vegetable vendor.

Further questioning led them to find Kumar’s photograph, his incomplete address in Bihar, and a phone number his relative in Punjab. Anuj’s stolen phone’s location was also tracked to Punjab, the officer said.

Probe found that Kumar had boarded a train to Govindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district in Punjab on Saturday. A team went to Govindgarh and arrested him from a barber’s shop on Sunday. He was brought back to Delhi on Monday morning, police said.