Snatchers on stabbing spree murder 32-year-old in Delhi, injure 2

All three suspects were arrested hours after the incident in the congested lanes of Janta Mazdoor colony

Three robbers on motorcycles went on a spree of stabbings in northeast Delhi late on Friday, killing one man and injuring two in a rampage that lasted roughly two hours, said police officers investigating the matter, detailing what is the second such set of attacks in less than a fortnight.

The brazen crime comes less than two weeks after similar stabbings in Sagarpur in southwest Delhi, when three men stabbed to death a 74-year-old man and injured two people, including another septuagenarian. (Representational Image)

All three suspects were arrested hours after the incident in the congested lanes of Janta Mazdoor colony, added Delhi Police officers, though the incident underlines concerns over law-and-order in the national capital amid a perceived rise in the number of street crimes.

The brazen crime comes less than two weeks after similar stabbings in Sagarpur in southwest Delhi, when three men stabbed to death a 74-year-old man and injured two people, including another septuagenarian.

Police said Gufran Khan (32) succumbed in a hospital on Saturday, while Sher Mohammed (25) and Sharik Khan (22) are being treated at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey identified the suspects as Kapil Chaudhary (25), Sohail Khan (22) and Sameer Khan (19), all residents of Janta Mazdoor colony.

Police said they received a call reporting the first stabbing at 11.33pm on Friday, the second at 12.2am on Saturday and the third at 1.02am. To be sure, investigators said they are still to ascertain the exact times when the stabbings took place, adding that they only have a broad sense of the sequence of events so far.

Mohammed, a labour worker who was walking back home, was stabbed first, said Tirkey.

“They were carrying two large knives and stabbed him in the abdomen. But he ran inside a house where the door was unlocked and bolted it from inside,” he said.

“That’s how these three could not rob him and he was able to save himself,” added Tirkey.

Next, they attacked Gufran outside his house, roughly an hour later. They stabbed him in the back and robbed his phone, said Tirkey. “Gufran tried to save himself but the lane was so narrow that the three accused surrounded him and didn’t let him go,” said Tirkey.

The accused stabbed him and fled from the spot. Since the incident took place right outside his house, his family members came out hearing commotion and rushed him to the hospital. Gufran succumbed to his wounds before reaching the hospital.

Then, around 30 minutes later, they attacked Sharik. They stabbed him in the neck, but he managed to run away, despite them chasing him, said police.

Investigators said they formed two teams of 15 officers each after they received the first call.

“Very early into the probe, our informers told us who the suspects were likely to be,” said Tirkey.

However, he added, the narrow, winding and criss-crossing lanes of Janta Mazdoor Colony made the hunt tougher.

“We then blocked off some routes and laid a trap. We arrested two of them while they were looking for a fourth victim,” said Tirkey, adding that they were apprehended two hours after the first stabbing.

The third suspect – Sameer – fled at the time, but was arrested on Saturday afternoon with the help of tip-off by police informers.

Chaudhary was previously booked in attempt to murder and stabbing cases, and Sameer was booked for robbery and under sections of the Arms Act, said police. Sohail’s antecedents were still being checked, said officers, adding that they recovered the phone they robbed from Gufran as well as the knife used in the stabbings.

The suspects used to work on daily wages in different trades.

All three were drunk at the time, but planned the attacks earlier that week. They decided to target people who they found walking alone in the area.

“They bought two knives from Ballimaran a week ago,” Tirkey said.

The stabbings are the second in less than two weeks.

On August 7, three motorcycle-borne assailants stabbed and robbed three men, including two septuagenarians, within nearly 10 minutes in three separate lanes of a congested residential neighbourhood of Sagarpur in southwest Delhi. The three accused were arrested within 10 hours of the incident.

Still, robberies and snatchings remain a concern for the Capital, especially amid a string of concerning incidents. On August 14, a 24-year-old woman travelling in an auto-rickshaw was pulled out of the moving vehicle by motorcycle-borne men who tried to snatch her phone in Saket. The victim suffered a fractured nose and other injuries during the incident. On August 12, a 23-year-old woman sustained injuries when a man snatched her phone in Wazirabad.

Last year, there were at least six robberies and 25 incidents of snatching on average every day, which was an increase from 2021, when there were at least five robberies and 22 snatchings per day in the same period. Data for the current year was not available.

Former deputy commissioner of police Rajan Bhagat, who was also the Crime Records Officer, said that first the integration of the police control room unit with the district units, and their subsequent delinking has had an impact on beat patrolling. “PCR officers are the first responders and play a pivotal role in curbing street crime. The integration of PCR van staff with police stations did not yield good results. A year and a half later, they were separated again. But a number of PCR staff continue to be deployed with district staff. This leaves a void in the beat patrolling,” he said.