Delhi dog killer arrested: Was sacked, lost his love and pet
A man who was caught on camera killing a pup and three stray dogs outside a metro station in south Delhi last month has been arrested, a police officer said on Saturday.
A 24-year-old engineer suffering from prolonged depression has been arrested a month after he was caught on camera killing a puppy and stabbing four stray dogs outside the Green Park Metro station.
Delhi Police said Nakul Mishra confessed to the crime after he was arrested from his hometown Lucknow on Friday. The knife used in the March 15 crime was also recovered from him, police said.
According to Mishra’s family, he went into depression after losing his job in Delhi following which his girlfriend broke up with him. The death of his pet dog worsened his condition, they told the police.
CCTV footage showing a man stabbing the dogs and throwing them down the Metro station stairs went viral, triggering widespread outrage and prompting the Hauz Khas police to register an FIR.
Fauna Police, an NGO working for animal welfare, claimed Mishra was identified after an acquaintance of his got in touch with them to claim `1 lakh reward the organisation had announced for information on the suspect. Mishra’s Facebook photos matched the suspect’s snapshots from the CCTV video, said Abhinav Srihan who heads the NGO. “Once we became sure, we shared the information with the police,” he said.
Police said Mishra – who graduated from a private college in Noida and was preparing for MTech entrance tests -- was living in a rented flat in Yusuf Sarai but shifted to his aunt’s house in Mayur Vihar after the incident. According to Srihan, Mishra was thrown out by his landlord after the video was picked up by news channels. “His neighbours told us he was addicted to drugs like LSD. We will request the magistrate to send him to a mental asylum as his violent behaviour can be a threat to both people and animals,” he said.
Police said Mishra left his flat on the night of March 15 with a knife and reached the Green park station. He sat down on the steps when a puppy tried to snuggle up to him. “He fed the puppy biscuits and then suddenly took out his knife and stabbed him multiple times. Hearing the puppy’s cry, some other dogs gathered but Mishra stabbed them too,” an officer said. The CCTV also captured Mishra throwing the puppy’s body down the stairs. A local shopkeerper alerted the police the next morning.
Mishra was booked on charges of mischief by killing or maiming animal or cattle and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The case was referred to a medical board after his parents produced documents to show he was mentally unfit.