Neighbours shut doors, turned off lights

The impunity with which two brothers were killed in their home in Sakinaka, Andheri (East), on Tuesday night by six members of a family of local goons for filing a police complaint is underscored by the fact that none of the neighbours came to the aid of the victims and their family while they were being attacked, and even after their bodies lay in the alley outside their home.

The impunity with which two brothers were killed in their home in Sakinaka, Andheri (East), on Tuesday night by six members of a family of local goons for filing a police complaint is underscored by the fact that none of the neighbours came to the aid of the victims and their family while they were being attacked, and even after their bodies lay in the alley outside their home.

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“I shouted for help from the first floor balcony of our house as they were knifing my brothers and my parents. I did not intervene as I had my one-year-old son with me. But the neighbours rushed back into their homes and shut the doors,” Preeti Singh, sister of the brothers, told Hindustan Times on Wednesday.

“As I kept shouting for help, they started switching off the lights in their homes. I helplessly watched my brothers being killed,” Singh said.

To make matters worse, she waited for over an hour at their tenement in Veer Savarkar Nagar before the police arrived. “The calls to the police’s emergency number went unanswered several times and we got a response only after 45 minutes. By the time the police team arrived, it was almost an hour-and-a-half,” Singh said.

Singh said she has no hope of getting justice. “Even if they are arrested, they will be released soon as no one will be willing to stand witness against them, even though they have seen everything,” she said.

When the locals were questioned about Sharma, some claimed that they did not live in the neighbourhood, while the others refused to answer the query. However, a teenager, who refused to divulge his name, said, “They are a menace in the area. They threaten people to make money. No one will speak about them. They have seen what happens when someone went against them.”

A woman who identified herself as a social activist said, “We have been demanding a police chowky in the area since long. Veer Savarkar Nagar used to be a good place to live in, but now it has become unsafe to live here.”