Tenants kill man in north Delhi over argument on cot

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man was killed and his brother critically injured when their uncle’s tenants allegedly attacked them with a knife after an argument over

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man was killed and his brother critically injured when their uncle’s tenants allegedly attacked them with a knife after an argument over laying a cot on the terrace in northwest Delhi’s Malikpur village near Mukherjee Nagar on Monday night.

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Police said the two brothers were attacked when they stopped the tenants, both brothers, from laying a cot on the terrace of their uncle’s house that was attached to their own terrace without any partition.

The two objected as the tenants alleged stared at women in the family while sleeping on the terrace, said police.

A senior police officer said the two brothers, identified as Raju and Ratan from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, are on the run. A team has been sent to their hometown to nab them. A case of murder and attempt to murder was registered against them at the Mukherjee Nagar police station.

The deceased, identified as Vikas, lived with his brother, Kuldeep, 22, and other family members in Malikpur village. According to the police, Vikas’s uncle Virendra owns a building adjacent to his house and had rented one of the floors to Raju and Ratan. The two brothers were staying at Virendra’s house for the past one year.

Since Virendra’s building is next to Vikas’s house and they were relatives, they had not erected any wall to separate their roofs. Vikas and his family members, including women, used to sleep on their terrace to beat the heat. Virendra’s tenants also used their terrace for the same purpose.

“Vikas’s family regularly had arguments with the two tenants over their habit of staring at women sleeping on the terrace. They had brought the matter to Virendra’s notice as well and he had asked his tenants to vacate the flat next month,” said the officer.

On Monday night, the officer said, Vikas once again entered into an argument with the two brothers while they were laying their cot and preparing to sleep on the terrace. Soon, the argument turned into a fight during which the two brothers attacked Vikas five times with a kitchen knife.

“Hearing Vikas’s screams, his brother Kuldeep rushed to the terrace and joined his brother in the melee. The attackers attacked him as well before fleeing the crime scene,” the officer said, adding the injured brothers were taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital where Vikas was declared dead on arrival.

“Kuldeep is recuperating and his condition is stable,” the officer added.