Four stabbed with pocket knife in tiff over cricket pitch

NEWDELHI: An argument between two groups over who would get to play cricket at a makeshift pitch in a public park on Tuesday evening turned violent in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area, leaving four youth with stab wounds.

Police said members of one group brought out a Swiss knife to attack the rivals, leaving four of them with stab wounds. The 18-year-old teenager, who allegedly wielded the knife, was also injured in the scuffle.

The police claimed that the injuries received by all the victims were “simple” and “superficial” in nature. While three of them have been discharged from the hospital, two others continued to remain hospitalised on Wednesday.

“We have identified all the persons suspected to be involved in the clash. They have been called for questioning and their parents are being advised to discipline their wards,” said a senior police officer.

The incident took place on Tuesday evening at Jamali Kamali Park in Mehrauli, a few hundred metres from Qutab Minar. The two groups clashed over a much sought after cricket pitch in the park.

It all began when a local youth, Sandeep, and his friends decided to play a tennis ball cricket match at the pitch. The group had just celebrated a friend’s birthday and consumed beer in the afternoon, said Chinmoy Biswal, Additional DCP (south).

At around 5pm another group of local youths, led by 18-year-old Abdul Samad, arrived at the ground and demanded that the pitch be vacated for them. But since the first group was yet to complete their game, they insisted that they should be allowed to finish.