Teens stab 21-year-old to death over lighting beedi in S Delhi’s Vasant Kunj

A 21-year-old man was stabbed to death by a group of teens in Vasant Kunj over a matchstick dispute. Police are searching for the suspects.

New Delhi

Police registered a case of murder and are tracking the accused. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A group of four to five teenagers stabbed to death a 21-year-old man in an altercation, purportedly over sharing a matchstick to light a beedi, at a slum cluster in Vasant Kunj on Tuesday night, police said. The suspects have been booked for murder at the Vasant Kunj North police station and teams have been deployed to track them, police said.

The police identified the victim as Karan, who was stabbed in the neck and declared dead on arrival at a private hospital. Police said they received information about the stabbing at JJ Bandhu Camp around 11.40pm.

“During the enquiry, it was revealed that Karan had a verbal spat with the alleged persons ‘over passing a matchstick to light a beedi’, which escalated and resulted in the fatal stabbing. We have registered a case and are looking for the suspects,” said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel.

Karan was from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and was staying with his sister and brother-in-law at the camp. He used to assist them in their cloth vending business, police said.

Chetrapal, the brother-in-law, said Karan went to a shop with two other relatives after dinner and had an altercation with a group of four to five people, who reportedly stabbed him. “Karan was bleeding when he arrived home. We rushed him to the private hospital, where the doctors declared him dead,” Chetrapal said.

The sister of the prime suspect, who is suspected to be a minor, told mediapersons that her brother and his friends were seated outside her house when the other group, led by Karan, asked them to light a beedi. “The refusal resulted in the fight during which Karan accidentally sustained an injury to the neck,” she said.