Panchsheel Park killer waited 6 hours for ‘right moment’: Delhi Police
Police said that questioning the accused, Abhay Sikarwar, revealed that he stabbed Kumar 25-30 times and slit his throat with two different knives.
Investigation into the grisly murder of 64-year-old Rohit Kumar at his Panchsheel Park residence revealed that the 25-year-old accused, who was arrested on Thursday, spent six hours on the premises of the house, including three hours on the porch, to wait for the “perfect time and opportunity” to enter the ground floor and execute his robbery plan, two police officers investigating the case said.
Police said that questioning the accused, Abhay Sikarwar, revealed that he stabbed Kumar 25-30 times and slit his throat with two different knives—he brought one with him and picked up the other from the kitchen on the ground floor. Sikarwar then took Kumar’s wristwatch, wore his winter jacket, removed the digital video recorder (DVR) of the building’s CCTV cameras and fled with the evidence.
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“Sikarwar entered the house through the kitchen net and had planned to rob cash and jewellery from the ground floor. However, Kumar woke up and caught him. A scuffle broke out, and Sikarwar panicked; he began stabbing Kumar. The accused then decided to make a run for it, and left with one of three wristwatches he found in the room, Kumar’s hoodie jacket, and the DVR,” one of the officers, not wishing to be named, said.
Sikarwar attempted to unlock a locker installed in Kumar’s room, but failed to decode the security code. He tried to take the safe away with him, but he failed and left the premises around 6am on Monday, almost six hours after he had entered, police said.
A second police officer, also on the condition of anonymity, said Sikarwar took inspiration from crime shows he watched on television, as evidenced by him covering his face during entry, exiting with a different attire (jacket), and washing his blood-soaked clothes and hands before leaving the house. To mislead police, Sikarwar walked a kilometre, then travelled in an autorickshaw for some distance and hailed a bike taxi to reach his home in Moti Nagar, the officer said.
Kumar lived with his younger son on the ground floor, his elder son and his family lived on the first floor and the second floor was rented out.
Police said Sikarwar, who came from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, worked as a cook for tenants on the second floor for nearly 10 months before he was fired during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The tenants also vacated a few months later, and Sikarwar found a job in Noida, quit it after a few months and moved to Moti Nagar after finding employment with a family living in a high-rise society in his neighbourhood, police said.
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The first police officer said the accused had been planning the crime for nearly a month and conducting a recce three times before reaching the premises late Sunday. However, he was not aware that Kumar’s second son stayed with him, telling investigators that he had not seen Kumar’s younger son during his 10-month stint working there.
Police said he decided against stealing Kumar’s phone and laptop as electronic gadgets could be traced and he chose Kumar as his target—and not his previous employer in Noida or his current employer—to escape scrutiny.
Questioning Sikarwar revealed that he was in severe debt due to gambling addiction and had loans running into lakhs of rupees. He also wanted to rent a flat for his girlfriend, police said.
“Sikarwar was so addicted to gambling that he even sold a Renault Duster car that belonged to his mother. He borrowed money on high interest rates but lost it in gambling. To overcome the debt, he planned the robbery at Kumar’s house,” a third police officer said.
A fourth investigator said: “Nearly 500 CCTV cameras of the route that the suspect took after the crime were scanned and it was learnt that his destination was in Moti Nagar. Since he had taken an app-based bike ride, the booking details, including the mobile number, were obtained. The call record analysis of the mobile number showed that the suspect had used an app-based service for delivery of household items. The delivery agents were contacted and they identified the house where the suspect lived. A raid was conducted, and Sikarwar was arrested on Thursday afternoon.”
