Noida: Man kills landlord for sexually harassing his friend

When he objected to the landlord harassing his friend, the man attacked him with a scalpel. The suspect picked up a hammer and hit the man on the head, police said

The Noida police have arrested a 44-year-old man on charges of murdering his 50-year-old landlord, after he allegedly sexually harassed his (the tenant’s) woman friend, officers probing the case said on Wednesday.

Police later converted the murder case to BNS section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), adding that a further probe is on in the matter. (Representational image)

The suspect, originally from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, has been produced before the court, officers said.

Police said they are also probing the 44-year-old man’s allegations — that the deceased harassed his friend — and will soon record the statement of his woman friend, aged 32.

Giving details of the case on Wednesday, police said that on January 26, the 50-year-old man — a resident of Kondli, Delhi — was found dead in a building he owned in Kulesara, Greater Noida.

A police probe was initiated and the subsequent post mortem report revealed that the man was beaten to death with a hammer and was also stabbed with a sharp-edged object, investigators said.

A case was then registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 103 (murder) at the Ecotech 3 police station, officers said.

During the detailed investigation, it was revealed that the deceased had on January 23 rented out the third floor of his house to a man originally from Kushinagar, and that on January 25, he visited his tenant, and was not seen again, said investigators attached to the case.

The tenant became a person of interest, and he was tracked down using electronic surveillance and CCTV camera footage, police said.

He was nabbed from the Ecotech 3 area, said deputy commissioner of police (Central Noida) Shakti Mohan Avasthy.

Police said a blood-covered hammer and a scalpel used in the murder were recovered from the 44-year-old man.

DCP Avasthy said that the suspect, during interrogation, alleged that the 50-year-old man sexually harassed his woman friend, which led to a scuffle in which he ended up killing his landlord.

“The suspect said when he objected to the landlord harassing his woman friend, the 50-year-old man pulled out a scalpel and attacked him. In the scuffle that followed, the suspect claimed that he managed to pick up a hammer and hit the man on the head, leading to his death,” the DCP said.

Police later converted the case to BNS section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), adding that a further probe is on in the matter.