Karuna’s murderer shut shop after tiff with her father

NEW DELHI: The man who stalked Karuna, 22, and stabbed her in north Delhi’s Burari on Tuesday morning, once owned a mobile recharge shop adjacent to the young woman’s

NEW DELHI: The man who stalked Karuna, 22, and stabbed her in north Delhi’s Burari on Tuesday morning, once owned a mobile recharge shop adjacent to the young woman’s shop in Burari.

HT Image

Surender Singh, 34, who was arrested for the murder reportedly had a tiff with Karuna’s father after which he shut shop. Locals said Singh visited the neighbourhood often even after his shop shut down to meet his friends.

Singh’s shop, Malik Communications, was always teeming with customers. A local told HT that while Singh had shut shop one-and-a-half years ago, Karuna’s father had shut shop six months after the tiff.

On Tuesday, as images of the stabbing captured by a CCTV flashed on TV, locals said they were shocked to know that Singh was a murderer.

Vimla Devi, who lives opposite Singh’s closed shop, said, “I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was polite and respected others.”

Raghuveer Singh, a shopkeeper who said he knew Singh well, said that after closing his mobile recharge shop, Singh had opened a computer learning centre in the main market of Labour Chowk Burari. The computer centre too was closed within months.

“Surender Singh was disowned by his father. He was the only son and he did not have a healthy relationship with his wife,” Raghuveer said.

PROTESTS IN BURARI 

On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered at the market and outside the Burari police station to protest the young woman’s killing. The protesters started a march from Karuna’s house and blocked traffic for close to three hours. They vandalised the boards outside the shops in the market.

Some protesters alleged that Singh was making a video on his phone after stabbing Karuna.

Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued a notice to police over the incident.