18-year-old stabbed to death in fight over food bill in Ghaziabad

An 18-year-old man was stabbed to death in Nekpur locality of Muradnagar by a group of men after victim’s older brother had an altercation with them at a local eatery over the issue of paying a food bill on Thursday night, the Ghaziabad police said on Friday

An 18-year-old man was stabbed to death in Nekpur locality of Muradnagar by a group of men after victim’s older brother had an altercation with them at a local eatery over the issue of paying a food bill on Thursday night, the Ghaziabad police said on Friday.

People gather at Nurpur village in Muradnagar after an 18-year-old man was killed in a knife attack at his home on Thursday night. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Senior officers said they have registered an FIR of rioting and murder at Muradnagar police station and arrested two suspects so far.

The police identified the victim as Mohammad Basarat, while the two arrested were identified as Mohammad Ashu, Mohammad Shehzad and two absconding suspects as Mohammad Taju and Mohammad Asif.

Police said the assaulters were cousins and members of the victim’s extended family.

The family of the deceased said the victim’s older brother Chand Mohammad had gone to a local eatery around 7pm on Thursday.

“There, there was some issue over bill payment and an altercation ensued with the eatery owner. Locals intervened and pacified both parties. Since the eatery owner is also one of our neighbours, the matter soon reached our household. A group of several armed men from the eatery later arrived at our house and started attacking Basarat, Chand and their mother,” said Mohammad Rashid, the victim man’s cousin.

“Basarat ended up sustaining at least five stab wounds while his family members escaped with non-critical injuries. An injured Basarat was rushed to a local hospital and later referred to Sanjay Nagar district hospital where he died late Thursday night,” Rashid said.

Victim’s father Dilshad Ahmad later gave a police complaint and they registered an FIR against several suspects, including four named persons.

“We registered an FIR of murder against the suspects and arrested two of them while two others are on the run. The attackers are from the same extended family. The body of the victim was sent for an autopsy and police personnel have been deployed in Nekpur, when the body arrived on Friday afternoon, to prevent any further violence,” said Naresh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police, Masuri/Muradnagar.

The ACP said Chand and the eatery owner, Shehzad, had some dispute over payment of food bill and this escalated into a full blown fight that ended in murder.