Six stab 37-year-old 100 times in revenge for 2020 murder case

The murder was pre-planned and took place on May 8, the same date a sibling of one of the accused was mistakenly shot dead during an argument with the 37-year-old man in 2020, police said, identifying the deceased as Ravi Yadav

In an act of revenge, six persons, including three teenagers, are alleged to have stabbed a 37-year-old man to death at least 100 times in Sarai Rohilla, north Delhi, last week, police said. Three men were arrested and three minors were apprehended, police said on Monday.

Yadav’s body was found outside Harijan Basti on New Rohtak Road on May 9. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The murder was pre-planned and took place on May 8, the same date a sibling of one of the accused was mistakenly shot dead during an argument with the 37-year-old man in 2020, police said, identifying the stabbing victim as Ravi Yadav.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Manoj Meena said, “There were around 100 wounds on the upper body of the deceased. The body was shifted to a mortuary and Yadav was later identified by his wife Savitri Yadav. She said he was a complainant and eyewitness in a 2020 murder case and the accused had been trying to kill her husband.”

According to the police, Yadav was a complainant and eyewitness in a four-year-old murder case in Anand Parbat. Yadav was stabbed by a group of people in 2020, as he supported his neighbour over a tussle with the accused. One of the accused tried to shoot Yadav but mistakenly shot their associate, identified as Rajan Kumar. Yadav duly lodged a complaint into the incident and the accused were arrested.

Police on Monday said Kumar’s associates wanted to take revenge on Yadav and killed him on the same date their friend had died. They found Yadav’s body outside Harijan Basti on New Rohtak Road on May 9.

After extensively tracking CCTV camera footage and visiting houses of the accused in the Kumar murder case, police arrested one of the accused, Ajeet Kumar Jha, 22, on Friday from New Market in Sarai Rohilla. Questioning Jha led police to the others, Shiva Kumar, 20, and Md Iqbal, 19, who were held from near a railway line and Zakhira Market, respectively. The juveniles were also apprehended on their instance.

MURDER PLAN

Police said the trio planned the murder for over a week, as Shiva Kumar is Kumar’s younger brother and he blamed Yadav for his brother’s death in 2020. The trio roped in three teenagers, aged 14, 16 and 17, to stay near Yadav’s residence and befriend him.

DCP Meena said, “One of the teenagers was sent to live near Yadav’s house a week ago and the two other teenagers were also sent after a few days. They were all following him and tracking his movements while also pretending to be his friends.”

On May 8, they all went to Yadav’s house to kill him but he was out on some work. Police said the teenagers then called Yadav through a social media app and asked him to meet them.

Meena said, “The accused overpowered the deceased and stabbed him multiple times on his chest, abdomen and neck. One of them put a knife through Yadav’s leg and left it there.”

Another police officer investigating the case said, “Jha told us that he and Shiva received a call from someone in Tihar jail eight to nine days ago. The caller, an acquaintance, asked them to kill Yadav and they decided to do it on May 8.”

Yadav was a cab driver with an aggregator service and is survived by his wife Savitri, 35, and their two children.

Savitri said that hours before the murder, the family was celebrating their daughter’s birthday. “We have been suffering since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, he lost his job and was then involved in the murder case. The accused and their associates have been threatening us for years. We didn’t know what to do…I thought he had left home to meet his friends. I didn’t know he would be killed. I couldn’t look at his body…he was covered in blood,” she said.