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Minor murders girl in East Delhi to avenge insult
The 17-year-old suspect, who was apprehended on Sunday morning, allegedly told the police that he held a grudge against the girl for complaining about him to their tuition teacher for using foul language.
A teenage boy allegedly lured a 14-year-old girl to the basement of an under-construction mall in east Delhi on Saturday, spiked her soft drink and then strangulated her to death, allegedly to take revenge over a two-year-old incident, police said.
The 17-year-old suspect, who was apprehended on Sunday morning, allegedly told the police that he held a grudge against the girl for complaining about him to their tuition teacher for using foul language. “The complaint had led to the boy getting reprimanded by their teacher,” said Meghna Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara).
The DCP said that while the motive revealed by the boy seemed “improbable”, this was all he had revealed to the investigators until Sunday evening. “We continue to probe if there was any other motive,” said the DCP.
The police officer said the evidence at the murder spot did not suggest that the girl had been sexually assaulted, but said she is waiting for the autopsy report to confirm the same.
A class 9 student, the girl was a businessman’s daughter and lived with her parents in Shahdara in east Delhi.
The suspect is in class 12 and lives in the same neighbourhood. His father works for a private firm in Ghaziabad.
“Around two years ago, the boy and the girl took tuitions from the same teachers. It was there that the boy had used foul language during an argument with the girl. She had complained to the teacher which led to the boy being scolded,” said the DCP quoting the suspect.
The two were no longer in touch after the incident. “They got in touch again two-three months ago over Facebook,” the officer said.
According to the police the girl left her home on Saturday afternoon to meet her friends. When she didn’t return home by late evening and her whereabouts remained unknown, her family approached the police.
“We checked her phone call records to find out who all she had been in touch with. The enquiry revealed that she had been speaking to the boy,” said the DCP.
When the boy was questioned, he allegedly first claimed that they had been to an ice-cream parlour from where the girl left for her house.
“But during a sustained interrogation, he broke down and confessed to killing the girl. He then led us to the basement of an under-construction mall near Welcome metro station where he had left her body,” said the DCP.
The boy’s interrogation allegedly revealed that he had called the girl to meet him on the pretext of showing her a film. “They watched a film together before he lured her to the building. He then offered her spiked soft drinks. Once she was semi-conscious, he tied her using tape he had brought along. He then hit her on her head and then strangulated her to death,” said the DCP.The officer said that the boy had planned the murder days before and had called the girl on Saturday with the intent of killing her. It was unclear if he had murder on his mind ever since the alleged incident took place at the coaching centre.
Investigators said that it was unlikely that he had recently befriended the girl with the plan of killing her. “It is difficult to believe his reason for the murder. We are taking his claims with a pinch of salt,” said an investigator who did not wish to be identified.
