E-Paper
Man murders 17-year-old girl in Begumpur
Police are on the lookout for the suspect, 25-year-old Laik (identified by the police by his first name), who is a long-time family acquaintance.
A 17-year-old girl was bludgeoned to death with a hammer on Friday evening at her home in outer Delhi’s Begumpur by a man whose proposal she had recently turned down, the police said on Saturday.
Police are on the lookout for the suspect, 25-year-old Laik (identified by the police by his first name), who is a long-time family acquaintance.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Rohini, PK Mishra said, “Laik was very close to the girl’s family and had known them for the last five years. He was a frequent visitor to their home and had even lived with the family for two months when they moved from Bawana to Begumpur. He would often help the family with their day-to-day affairs,” he said.
The girl’s father worked at a manufacturing unit and the family had moved to Begumpur from Bawana a year ago after building a house in the northwest Delhi neighbourhood.
Laik, who too works at a factory, belongs to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh and lived in Delhi with his uncle.
Police said Laik was on good terms with the girl’s family until recently when he started developing feelings for the teenager. “Recently, he proposed to the girl, but she had turned him down,” the DCP said based on the police’s interactions with her cousin.
On Friday evening, when the girl’s parents were away at work and her two brothers were in the market to buy vegetables, Laik visited her house.
“We suspect that an argument ensued between the girl and Laik over her rejecting his proposal and that led to him beating her to death with a hammer,” the DCP said.
After the murder, Laik allegedly locked the house from outside and left with the bloodstained hammer in hand.
“While Laik was walking with the hammer, the girl’s brother saw him from a distance, but didn’t make much of it. But when the brothers returned home, they found the door locked from the outside and believed that the girl had left with Laik. But when they made a phone call to their sister and found her phone ringing inside the house, they suspected something amiss and broke open the lock,” the officer said.
Inside, the girl was lying unconscious and injured. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead.
The officer said that a murder case has been registered and multiple teams have been formed to catch Laik.
The case figured prominently on social media platforms all through Saturday since the victim and the accused belonged to different religions. However, DCP Mishra said religion had nothing to do with the murder.
“The man would have killed her even if he belonged to the same religion as the victim,” said Mishra.
The officer said that the police have spoken to the girl’s parents who, too, did not see any communal angle in the murder. “We are looking to nab Laik at the earliest. While there is no communal tension, we are keeping a watch in the area,” the officer said.
Last week in Mangolpuri, the death of a 25-year-old man who was stabbed to death by a group of men took a communal turn after his affiliation with some Hindu outfits came to light. Many political leaders visited the house of the deceased as Delhi Police increased security in the area and transferred the case to the crime branch.
