Three murders in a week in Vasant Kunj

Just 12 hours before Shobhit Modi, an engineering student, was found murdered a few metres from his Vasant Kunj home on Thursday night, another body was recovered from the adjoining ridge area.

Just 12 hours before Shobhit Modi, an engineering student, was found murdered a few metres from his Vasant Kunj home on Thursday night, another body was recovered from the adjoining ridge area. That's not all. While the police were busy investigating the Shobhit murder case, another man was shot dead on Sunday in the ridge area.

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Three murders in four days and many other crimes, including the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan more than two years ago, make Nelson Mandela Marg one of the most unsafe stretches in the city.

Despite being in news for various crime incidents, the stretch continues to be a dark and desolate with little or no police patrolling. Residents claimed police have failed to make the area safe despite three murders in a week and many such incidents in the past. "We feel so unsafe living in Vasant Kunj that most people have stopped venturing out on the roads at night and are afraid to even answer the door," said NK Vaid, secretary general of the Vasant Kunj RWAs Federation.

Vaid said it's not just the Nelson Mandela Marg, but even the inner colony roads are so desolate and dark that residents are afraid to walk alone at night. "The only way out is proper lighting on the roads and intense police patrolling," he said.

"There is no doubt that proper lighting would discourage criminals and the number of incidents can be brought down by installing street lights on the isolated stretch around the ridge area. We will talk to the concerned agencies," Chhaya Sharma, DCP (south) said. The police team probing the Shobhit murder case is almost sure that the 20-year-old had taken the isolated route on the fateful day.